The Dark Ages
by Lady GreyWolf
Summary: 14 years after Voldemort's defeat, one of his old followers rise to power and uses a terrible curse that paralyzes the Wizarding World. When the Golden Trio becomes "too old to fight", a new group of young witches and wizards must do so instead, but will they possess the courage, wisdom, loyalty and cunning minds to achieve victory?
1. Prologue

**_I have received several anonymous reviews concerning the description of this story where it is stated that the Golden Trio are "too old to fight". I am perfectly aware of their age in the storyline, thank you very much, and I know just as well that logically a witch or wizard just around 30 years should not be named as too old. But that is because you guys are currently taking that sentence too literally!_**

**_And you should also read that there's a terrible curse involved in this happening, which might point you in the right direction as to why this "too old to fight" is written. I would also appreciate if you do not judge the story by just that description but actually take your time to read all of the posted chapters and then state your opinion._**

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_Would also like to point out a few details that will otherwise confuse you; story is set 14 years after the fall of Voldemort (so in 2012). Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Fred Weasley, Tonks and Severus Snape are all alive. Story centers around a number of students at Hogwarts that were all created by the admins over on the Facebook-page __**"Get away from my godson" *bam* - Sirius**__ and chapters will be posted over there as they show up._

_ Comments and reviews are love!_

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Fourteen years. That is how long it has taken me to prepare myself for what is to come. No one else knows of it, of course; it is not something you can trust anyone but yourself with.

Fourteen years. Two generations have by now finished their studies at Hogwarts since my Lord and Master was defeated by a boy. A _boy_! How could he let himself be tricked like that? I pondered that question for many of these years while hiding from Shacklebolt and the Ministry. Then I saw it; my Lord and Master had been a fool to underestimate the strength of love, and the strength of a young age. I, on the other hand, will not. I have lulled the Ministry and the wizards and witches all over the world into a peaceful slumber, figuratively speaking. They believe that darkness has been concurred and destroyed, at last.

Harry Potter. The boy who lived. Let us see how long he can stay alive after my plan starts to work.

But not yet. No, it is not yet finished. I still need some time, some months, before it will all begin. But when it starts they won't have seen it coming. They will be unprepared, and they will be defeated.

Sleep, Harry Potter. Sleep while you can, for when I am done with you the only thing on your mind will be to wish that you had never been born.

**J.L.W**


	2. Chapter 1: Knock-Knock

Hazel Lewis found herself feeling not as happy as she usually was upon getting through to Platform 93/4 this year. It was as if the appearance of the big, red train, the young children on the platform and the parents shouting good-bye to those already onboard reminded her of the fact that this would be the last time she stood here, waiting to head off to Hogwarts. At least until she had her own kids, if they turned out to be wizards and witches as well.

"Hazel!"

The call caused her to spin around, her light-brown hair whirling. She could not see anyone from her year who could possibly have called for her, but as she had some trouble seeing things really far away she decided to head up to the front.

"Look up and you might spot me."

She yelped in surprise and tore her gaze from the trolley in front of her to see that she was standing almost right underneath the window that her friend Sandra Nichols was leaning out through. The girl with the dark-blonde hair grinned.

"Come on, we've got a whole compartment for ourselves."

"We as in…?"

"Toby's here as well", Sandra answered. "Here, hand me Gwendolyn's cage; I'll bring her in through the window."

Hazel raised the cage containing her tawny owl into the air in order for her friend to hoist it inside. She then hurried on to the nearest doorway and produced her wand in order to levitate her trunk into the wagon. A group of children, probably first years, stared at her with wide eyes and gaping mouths. Hazel shrugged it off and made her way to the compartment in question. Sandra had placed Gwendolyn's cage next to the one containing her own owl, Lizzy, and Toby Sinistra's Orion.

"Bonsoir", Toby said from behind the book he was currently reading, the usual greeting-habit of his.

"Welcome back", Sandra said. "How was France?"

"As boring as it usually is", Hazel answered and sat down next to Toby. The three of them had become friends during their first year at Hogwarts; all of them ambitious Ravenclaws who did not fit into the rest of the group of first year students due to their personalities. Initially they had all been very quiet. In fact, Toby Sinistra, the second-cousin of Astronomy Professor Aurora Sinistra, was still quiet at most times and the girls sometimes even forget that he was in the same room as them as they chatted away.

"I guess one could say that if their family goes there _every_ summer", Sandra said with a grimace. "Well, I still suppose you got my owl about Flitwick quitting?"

"What?" Hazel gasped. "No, I didn't get that. When did you hear of it?"

"Mum's gossip", Sandra answered with a shrug. "Thought you'd notice; the books have changed. See; Toby's reading the new one right now."

The tanned boy waved the book in question at Hazel before he kept reading. It was thicker than the book the seventh years had had last year, Hazel suddenly realized; at least nine-hundred pages long.

"How many charms are there in there?" she asked.

"You haven't opened it?" Sandra asked with a frown.

"I haven't had the time", Hazel mumbled.

"There are about five-hundred charms listed", Toby answered from behind the book. "It begins with the basic charms, so we will be able to skip those. I believe the new teacher wishes this book to be used in several years instead of just one."

"Have you read it already?" Hazel asked.

"Of course", Toby answered, sounding slightly offended by the fact that she had to ask. After all these years the girls should know that he always read all the new books at least once before school-start.

"Do you know who the new teacher is, Toby?" Sandra asked.

"_Nescio sed fieri sentio et excrucior_."

"Well, I guess it will be a surprise for us all, then", Sandra sighed and leaned back on the seat as the train started to move. In that moment they all turned quiet, all of them thinking about the fact that had startled Hazel as she reached the platform; this was the last time they would be on this train, heading off to Hogwarts.

"It feels strange, doesn't it?" Hazel said after a while, drawing their attention once more. "I mean, this is the last time we'll make this journey, unless we go home for Christmas, but this is the last time..."

Both Sandra and Toby nodded, but neither wished to respond in words. Of course they had known that this day would come; there was no way they could have avoided it. But that did not keep the sadness at bay.

A sudden knock on the door startled them all; Toby even dropped his book on the floor. He had always disliked sudden sounds.

"Hi, sorry to interrupt."

The woman who had startled them was of Indian heritage, with black, slightly wavy hair reaching past her shoulders, tanned skin and dark eyes. Hazel also realized that she was probably older than them; a post-graduate.

"I just wanted to ask you if you've seen someone with rashes pass by?" the woman continued. The three friends looked at one another before they simultaneously shook their heads. The woman sighed.

"I'll just keep looking, then. Sorry to disturb you all."

She closed the door and vanished down the hallway to the next compartment. Sandra turned towards the others with one of her eyebrows raised, a typical manner of hers when she was perplexed about something.

"Did you guys also think that she was too old to be on this train?" she asked.

"Yes", Toby answered, still looking out through the door. "My guess is that she was past twenty. Further to the hypothesis of her elder age is that if she was of our age or younger we might have remembered seeing her in the corridors."

"Then what was she doing here?" Hazel asked. "I mean, there are no troubles brewing, so there's no need for Aurors to be onboard, right?"

"Not that I know of", Sandra answered. "Toby?"

"I have heard of nothing that could mean that it was necessary for Professor McGonagall to ask for people from the Ministry of Magic to help her", Toby responded and picked up his book from the floor.

"What was that about the rash, then?" Hazel wondered.

"Probably some first year student who has eaten one of the candys in a Skiving Snackbox", Sandra suggested.

"Whatever it was it is none of our business", Toby said and took his seat again, tucking his legs beneath him as he thumbed the pages in the book until he got to where he had been interrupted. Hazel turned to look at Sandra, who shrugged and reached up to pull one of her own books from her coffin. After some hesitation Hazel decided to do the same and a comfortable silence settled in the compartment as they all came to focus entirely on the books they had chosen.

Of course this was to be interrupted by another knock on the door. Hazel immediately focused even harder on the book in order to not have to answer.

"Hey, have you guys seen…"

"No", Sandra answered from behind her book.

"You do not even know if she's asking for the same thing", Toby said in his usual quiet voice.

"What, has someone else come by asking for Mischief?"

Hazel looked up in the same moment as Sandra put her book down. The girl now standing outside the compartment was blonde, her hair pulled back into a tuft, and she was wearing a Ravenclaw-robe.

"Beccy", Sandra said with a sheepish grin and sat up straighter. "Sorry about that, but you know me; don't disturb when I'm reading."

"Yeah, I know, I shouldn't have", Rebecca Collinston replied. "I just wondered if you'd seen my cat? Black and white one called Mischief?"

"No", Toby answered. "I find it quite hard to look through a wooden panel."

He nodded at the lower half of the door leading out into the hallway, which indeed was made out of wood as opposed to the upper half made out of glass. Rebecca blushed.

"Right, didn't consider that", she admitted.

"I'm sure that if you head back to your compartment he's waiting for you there", Sandra answered.

"Yeah, maybe", Rebecca said. "Well, thanks anyway. Will I see you at try-outs?"

"Maybe", Sandra answered. The blonde girl smiled again, then vanished and closed the door behind her. Hazel raised her book again and had just found an interesting piece on unicorns when it knocked on the door again, for the third time during this journey. Toby looked up, startled, and in the corner of her eye Hazel could see him frown in utter confusion.

"_Ibi nemo est_", he said, slipping into Latin as he did quite often.

"What?" Sandra said and lowered her own book. Hazel could see her frown as well, which eventually caused her to turn and gaze at the door along with her friends.

The knocking continued, but outside the door was nothing but empty air and the occasional passing of a student. None of them reacted or tried to avoid whoever or whatever was knocking. It really seemed to be as Toby had said; there was no one out there.

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_Comments and reviews are love!_


	3. Chapter 2: Unicorns and Brooms

"Someone with rashes… someone with rashes…"

Natasha Violet stared up at the roof above her head. An Auror had passed by the compartment she shared with her friend Nick Gilbert (the third) not too long ago and asked if they had seen someone with rashes pass by, a question that had bewildered them both.

"Nothing we can do about that, Tasha", Nick said from his seat.

"Doesn't it bother you that we do not know why she was asking about someone with rashes?" Natasha asked, still staring up at the roof as she lay on her back.

"Not really", Nick answered. "I mean, if it was something that was contagious they would have tried to evacuate us."

"Even if the train was moving?"

Nick grinned in reply.

"Of course. They could call on the pink fluffy unicorns to help them with that."

"Nick, unicorns are not pink and fluffy. That's a myth."

"Are you sure?" Nick asked and tilted his head slightly, causing his light-brown curls to fall into his face. "Have you seen something that can prove that they do not exist?"

"Hagrid said…"

"Just because of that Hagrid hasn't seen any does not mean they do not exist", Nick interrupted and bounced slightly on his seat as he grinned, looking a lot less than the sixth year student he was. Natasha could not help but laugh as well. That was what always happened; one of them did something out of the ordinary and the other started laughing, which in the end would cause them both to be unable to stop laughing as they would just start over if they looked at one another.

"Alright, let's drop the subject", Nick eventually said. "How do you feel about our deal?"

"I'm still not sure about it", Natasha answered and sat up on the seat, pushing her ginger hair out of the way.

"Oh, come on!" Nick exclaimed. "It will be fun! Amazing! Awesome! Whatever you wish to call it."

"Look, Nick, you're good at playing Quidditch but that doesn't mean you're good at teaching it", Natasha pointed out. She had watched Nick play as the Hufflepuff Seeker since his second year but despite this she had never really understood what was going on. Since the flying lessons during her first year she had not even sat on a broom and now Nick had somehow gotten her to make a deal with him; he would teach her how to play Quiddtch if she helped him with his studies. Not that she believed he needed that much help; it seemed more like an excuse to watch her try (and probably fail) at playing the game that he loved so much.

"You'll be fine", Nick said. "I bet that next year you will be able to try out for the team, even!"

Natasha glared at him and was about to tell him off when a girl dressed in Gryffindor-robes rushed in through the door of their compartment and hid beneath one of the benches. The sight caused both Hufflepuffs to fall silent and just stare at one another, then at the girl hiding from something, then back at each other. A group of Slytherins passed by outside and once they had passed the girl crawled back out and took a deep breath of relief.

"Wow, that was close", she said.

"What's going on?" Natasha asked.

"Oh, I might, _might_ just have managed to piss off those Slytherins by, accidentally, dropping a dungbomb in their compartment", the girl said and adjusted her _Ray Ban_-glasses. Nick started roaring with laughter as he heard that.

"I wish I'd been there, that's awesome!" he said and raised his hand. "High five, you!"

The girl looked surprised for a moment before she grinned and returned the gesture.

"You just met the ultimate Marauder-against-Slytherins since the Weasley-twins' era", Nick said with a grin and invited her to sit down next to him.

"You want to bet on that?" the girl asked. "I don't know how many things I've done to those people; they just annoy me and I can't let that go unpunished."

"I think that you might be my long lost sister", Nick said, still grinning. "I'm Nick Gilbert, the third, and this is my friend and companion Natasha Violet."

"Brooklyn Amarenze", the girl answered and shook his hand.

"So, Brooklyn Amarenze, what is your opinion on pink fluffy unicorns?" Nick asked.

"Nick!" Natasha exclaimed.

"What, just because you do not believe does not mean that she doesn't as well", Nick answered with a shrug.

"Pink fluffy unicorns?" Brooklyn asked, her blue-grey eyes widening behind her glasses in sheer surprise. "Do they exist?"

"People think they don't but Nick is out to prove them wrong", Natasha answered.

"It is my one goal for this year!" Nick proclaimed. "That and teaching Tasha how to play Quidditch."

"You do not know how to play Quidditch?" Brooklyn gasped. Natasha shook her head.

"How is that even possible?" Brooklyn continued. "I mean, doesn't everyone know how to do it? It's quite simple, is it not?"

"I'd say so", Nick answered. "Tasha says it's not so I've promised to teach her how to do it. Do you want to bet on me making her into a decent Quidditch-player by the end of the year?"

"Nick", Natasha said in a tone that signaled a warning. Brooklyn just grinned.

"Five galleons and you're on", she said.

"Could we please change the subject?" Natasha squealed, her voice rising to a higher tone.

Nick and Brooklyn eventually agreed to talk about something else than Quidditch and unicorns, causing the three to instead discuss the female Auror who had been looking for 'someone with rashes'. She had knocked on Brooklyn's compartment as well, two wagons away, and somewhat later something invisible had knocked on the door as well. This intrigued the two Hufflepuffs as they had not had something like that happening to them.

"Everyone in my wagon experienced it", Brooklyn said. "Or, at least I think it was everyone. I mean, I did not speak to everyone but those I spoke to had heard it, so…"

"Maybe it's a poltergeist", Nick suggested. "Imagine that; the poltergeist of the Hogwarts Express."

"That sounds like an Agatha Christie-novel", Natasha admitted. As all of them had read, or at least heard, something of this author's work they could all agree on that.

They then went on to discussing the retirement of Professor Flitwick and who the new teacher might be, until Brooklyn suddenly bolted up from her seat.

"Oh my God, we're almost there!" she shouted. "We're almost there! We're almost there!"

The others looked out through the now dark window and saw, in the distance, the lights of Hogsmeade village approaching. Brooklyn waved at them as she dashed out through the door to head back to her friends while Nick pulled down his black robe from his trunk. He had not bothered to put it on before; it was hot enough without it.

"Well, time for a year when we do not have to focus on some annoying OWLs or NEWTs", he said with a grin as he put it on.

"Yeah", Natasha said. "And that extra time you're forcing me to spend on a broom."

"Not forcing; we made a deal", Nick pointed out. "You help me and I help you."

"Whatever you say. But if I fall off more than three times during the first week I will not keep on going."

"Deal", Nick said and pulled out his wand. "Should we do the Unbreakable Vow?"

"Nick!" Natasha exclaimed, her voice yet again rising up a few notes.

"Alright, alright, I was just kidding", Nick said with a laugh.

Slowly the train came to a stop by the platform outside Hogsmeade. Students of all ages tumbled out, excited to start their next year. As they got off Natasha heard several other students discuss the mysterious "invisible knocker". Several seemed to have the same theory as Nick, that it was a poltergeist, while others had slightly delirious ideas of it being the sign of a curse and darker times. A group of three Ravenclaws, two girls and one guy, passed them by while eagerly discussing every single aspect of it all.

"Well", Nick said and looked up at the castle in the distance, "race you to the carriages?"

"You're such a jerk", Natasha responded, before rushing after him through the crowd.


	4. Chapter 3: New Teachers & Nightly Visits

Kylie Forbes had never felt more relieved upon entering the Great Hall than she did this year due to the fact that some Gryffindor had thrown a dungbomb into the compartment she had shared with her friends onboard the train. She wondered if the smell would ever wash out of her clothes; they had all had to change into their extras.

"I bet it was that Amarenze-girl", her friend Aurora Cowley muttered and glared at the girl in question. "Who else wears _Ray Ban_-glasses these days?"

"Drop it, for now", Kylie ordered her and sat down on the bench, turning so that she could look at the table where the teachers already sat. McGonagall was talking to Slughorn, or perhaps it was the other way around; the Headmaster looked quite bored while Slughorn was grinning and seemingly telling a story that he found very interesting. Lupin looked as he always looked; ragged, tired, old. Then there was Hagrid, whom Kylie had come to think of as a really interesting person after taking his class last year. She had not told her friends about that, though; Slytherins were not supposed to like him. That was an unspoken rule.

Sinistra, Sprout, Hooch, MacDougal, Benedict, Trelawney… those were the ones she recognized. Those were her teachers, or in the case of Trelawney a teacher that some of her friends had. Binns was obviously not present; he never was. The other teachers at the table she had no interest in.

But there was one she had an interest in, or at the moment it was just an empty chair. It was supposed to be Flitwick's chair. According to the rumor the small teacher in Charms had decided to retire after last year and they would now have a new teacher in the subject, hence the empty chair. Kylie was surprised, however, that it was _that_ chair, to the right of the Headmaster's, that was empty. That was supposed to be the chair of the Transfigurations' Professor, MacDougal. It always had been.

"Strange that Trelawney's down for the feast", Aurora remarked. "She never is."

"Don't you find it more strange that MacDougal is sitting on Flitwick's old chair instead of the one to the right of McGonagall?" Kylie asked.

"No. I suppose they change seats sometimes; it must be boring to sit in the same place the whole time. I mean, Slughorn's moved around a bit. He hasn't always been sitting where he's sitting now."

"No, but that empty chair to the right of McGonagall is _always_ occupied by the teacher in Transfigurations", Kylie bit back. Aurora rolled her eyes at her but they had no time to discuss it further as the doors to the Great Hall opened and the first year students were led in, by a young woman. The crowd in the room fell silent at once, turning with wide-eyes as they saw the new teacher at the front of the group. She had brown hair kept away from her face by some sort of magic, that forced the unruly curls to only fall on her back. Her skin was light, her eyes brown and her clothes neatly looked after.

"You have got to be kidding me", Aurora mumbled in Kylie's ear. Kylie could only nod in response before they both sat in silence, along with the rest of the crowd.

The Sorting Ceremony commenced as usual, with the exception of the cheering tables being slightly late in reacting to the Sorting Hat shouting their house's name to begin with due to the shock they were all still in. Once it was over the new teacher took the empty seat next to McGonagall, who rose and issued silence.

"Welcome to yet another year at Hogwarts", the Headmaster said. "Another year of magical education awaits you all and I hope to see that you all strive to achieve the highest of marks in all of your classes."

Classic McGonagall, Kylie thought. She was always thinking about the grades.

"Before we begin our traditional feast I would like to notify you all of some very important matters", McGonagall then said. "First; a reminder to both old and new students that the Forbidden Forest is not to be entered, under any circumstances. Second…"

She waved her hand at the door where a pair of female Aurors stood guard. Kylie blinked in surprise; why would they need Aurors at Hogwarts?

"For a short period of time the grounds will be patrolled by Aurors from the Ministry of Magic", McGonagall continued. "I have been assured by the Minister that the reason for this should not endanger any of you and that the Aurors will not disturb our classes. Third…"

This time she waved her hand at the teachers around her.

"I believe that some of our older students have noticed that our dear Professor Filius Flitwick have decided to retire. Professor Victor MacDougal has decided to fill his place and will also be named the new Head of Ravenclaw…"

Cheers erupted around the Ravenclaw-table, probably due to that MacDougal had become such a loved and honored teacher during his previous years as the Professor in Transfigurations.

"We also have a new addition to our staff who will be taking up MacDougal's old subject as Professor in Transfiguration", McGonagall continued, managing to get the Ravenclaws to fall silent once more. "I do hope that you will all treat her with the respect that she deserves."

She waved her hand to the new teacher, who rose while McGonagall spoke her name.

"Professor Hermione Granger."

The Great Hall stayed silent for a second or two before it exploded in a loud cheer as students and teachers alike welcomed the famous former student back; one of the most notable heroes of the last war. She looked slightly overwhelmed by the welcome and quickly sat back down. Kylie could see that McGonagall's lips moved as she said something else, but it was impossible to hear it over the continued cheering. In the end she just clapped her hands and sat back down, causing food to appear on the empty plates on the tables.

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Rujuta Singh folded her cloak and put it back in the small trunk of clothes she had brought with her. The small group of Aurors sent to Hogwarts had been assigned a set of guest-quarters to share and they had set up a strict schedule for their shifts. She would work day shifts for the upcoming seven days, then have four days off and then take the night shifts for another week. She sighed; guarding for something that they were not sure what it was always turned out to be extremely boring.

"Knock-knock?"

She jumped and spun around, wand at the ready as the door opened. When she saw who it was she groaned.

"How did you get here?" she asked.

"Having a friend on the staff helps", Sirius Black said as he sneaked in and closed the door behind him.

"What if someone sees you?" Rujuta asked.

"Then what?" Sirius asked with one of his mischievous grins. "I'm a free man who should be allowed to visit his girlfriend every once in a while."

"Not while I'm on duty", Rujuta pointed out and avoided his try to kiss her. "We've discussed this."

"You discussed this, I did not", Sirius said and threw himself onto the bed. "Come on, haven't you ever thought of breaking the rules?"

"Sometimes, yes, but this is not the time to do it."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm tired and I wish to go to bed", Rujuta answered. There was a soft knock on the door and Sirius rolled down onto the floor to hide while she opened it, relieved to have someone else to talk to.

"Miss Singh."

"Professor Lupin?"

"Remus!" Sirius said and popped up once more. "Didn't we have a secret knock that you could do to announce that it was you?"

Lupin ignored his friend's comment and focused entirely on the female Auror.

"I apologize, but Sirius claimed that you had agreed that this was a good way to meet up", he explained.

"We certainly hadn't."

"Yes we had!" Sirius argued and rose.

"Well, it is a good way, but not for tonight", Rujuta responded. "I'm just… so tired and confused."

"Have your colleagues found anything on the train?" Lupin asked.

"Not that I know of. The invisible knocker seems to have been in the last five wagons of the train. The Prefects never noticed anything."

"And the boy with rashes?"

"Disappeared as well", Rujuta answered with a sigh. "I don't know what to make of this."

"Neither does McGonagall, but she's made a point of gathering as many members of the Order as possible here on the grounds", Lupin said. "Some of us have lived through two wars, others through one, but either way we should be experienced enough to figure this out."

"I do hope so", Sirius said. "Then maybe things will get back to normal so that we do not have to sneak around."

"Come on", Lupin said and opened the door a little wider. "Your girlfriend is tired and she deserves to rest. You two can talk this through in the morning, over the flo-network."

"Not even a kiss goodbye?" Sirius said and pouted at Rujuta, who rolled her eyes at him before placing a quick kiss on his lips.

"There. Happy?"

"Happier than I was", Sirius answered with a grin. "Goodnight, my sweet."

Lupin moved aside to let him back out into the corridor.

"We'll solve this", he said as he closed the door. "I promise."


	5. Chapter 4: Flying Distractions

Rebecca Collinston feared that her heart might be jumping out of her chest the moment she stepped out onto the Quidditch-pitch. She had already dropped her list of sign-ups thrice on the walk down from the castle, causing it to become all muddy due to the rain that had fallen over the past two days, and in the sheer panic of having to suddenly be the one to put the Ravenclaw-team together she could not for her life remember any cleaning-spell.

She had passed a bunch of Hufflepuffs on the way down; they had held their try-outs earlier that morning and based on the look on their Captain's face it had worked out pretty well. That had terrified her even more; it had been four years since Ravenclaw had last beat Hufflepuff in a game and now, as the new Captain, she felt the weight of the responsibility on her shoulders. She also had to find about half of her team-members today as the rest had graduated the year before; they needed two Chasers and two Beaters. From last year's team only she, Molly the Keeper and Benjamin the Chaser remained, and she was definitely not looking forward to this task.

"Becca!"

The brown-eyed Molly Ellis waved at her from the group of excited students, dressed in her blue Quidditch-uniform and brown safety-gear.

"Wow, you look terrible", the Keeper said as she came up to her.

"Thanks", Rebecca muttered and tried not to drop the list of names yet again. Molly shook her head slightly, then produced her wand from one of her pockets and waved it over the parchment. The mud immediately disappeared and upon closer inspection Rebecca noticed that there now seemed to be some sort of plastic sheet over it as well.

"I still do not understand why you did not become Captain", Rebecca groaned.

"Because I'm in my final year and it would not be good for the team to change Captain two years in a row", Molly answered with a wink. Rebecca sighed and reluctantly agreed.

"Alright, let's get this over with, then. Is Ben here?"

"Yes, he's inspecting the Beaters", Molly said and waved at the boy with dirty-blonde hair somewhat away from them. "I saw that you managed to convince Sandy to try out again, by the way."

"Yes, I spoke to her on the train", Rebecca said and looked over at the girl in Molly's year. Sandra stood somewhat away from the rest of the students, talking to Hazel who looked out of place as she was not wearing a Quidditch-uniform.

"I think Ben's happy she's here", Molly said. "She was sort of his mentor when he got into the team two years ago and he still idolizes her."

"Which means that he will try his best to get her back on the team", Rebecca filled in.

"I don't think it will be too hard; she's the only one in my grade who's here, and you know that her cousin plays in the French national-team. She's got a ton of practice at home."

"Which is yet another reason for Ben to want her on the team."

Rebecca studied the group for a few more moments before she decided that she had to get this over with, now.

"Guys!" she called. "Guys, could you all listen to me for a second?"

In the corner of her eye she watched as Hazel fled the pitch while the others fell silent.

"Hi, I'm Rebecca Collinston, the Captain. I… er, we… er… Molly?"

"What Rebecca is trying to say is that she today has the hard task of choosing four new team-members", Molly filled in. "It is very important that you listen to her and follow what orders she might give you."

"Thanks", Rebecca breathed, then raised her voice. "Well, Molly's the Keeper of our team and I thought that we might start with some practice-shots, to see how our Chasers do, alright? Those of you who try out for the position as a Chaser can join Molly and Ben here and they will help you get ready."

She knew that she was speaking very fast, but there really was no way of stopping it. She was just too nervous about this whole thing! Why, oh, why had Molly not been named Captain? She could have handled it so much better.

While Molly and Ben led the Chasers away she remained with the Beaters; most of them big, strong guys who seemed to look forward to the prospect of sending Bludgers flying all over the pitch. There were really only two who did not look like that; a red-haired girl with tons of freckles and a dark-haired boy who could not be described with any other word than gorgeous. Rebecca really thought that he ought to have decided to become a model for men's underwear, not a Beater.

"Hello", he said, his voice tinged with an Italian accent. Rebecca only managed to smile; if she opened her mouth she was sure her words would do nothing but scare him away.

"My name is Benvolio", he continued. "I am an exchange -student in your year."

"Oh, right", Rebecca managed to answer. Professor MacDougal had said that there would be an exchange-student in the sixth year, but so far Benvolio had not been present in any of her own classes, which was strange, since she took all of the core-subjects, plus some additional ones. Maybe Italian students studied at a different speed.

"I'm sorry, but I have not seen you in any of my classes", Rebecca eventually said.

"I have been there", Benvolio said. "I have been sitting at the back. When you do not understand the language it is not fun to sit at the front."

"I think that you speak very good English."

"Thank you."

He smiled, flashing teeth whiter than the whitest pearl. _Oh crap_, Rebecca thought. This was certainly going to turn into a distraction. A gorgeous distraction, but none the less a distraction.

She quickly turned away and climbed up on her broom, soaring up into the air in order to have a full view of the pitch. Molly had already taken her place by the goal posts and on the other side of the pitch Ben was dividing the Chasers into groups. He wanted to see how they worked together and Rebecca was glad that her team-mates helped her with her task. Besides, Ben was the better Chaser and would be working with the Chasers they chose. It was better that he was in charge of dividing them.

"Becca!" he called up to her. "We're ready!"

"Go for it!" Rebecca yelled back.

And so the try-outs started. Ben flew back and forth with the pairs he had created, ordering them to toss the Quaffle between them and then try to score. Each Chaser would get five shots against Molly, who was determined to do a better job than she had done the year before. Rebecca did not blame her for Ravenclaw's losses, though; she blamed the team. They had not done a good-enough job to help Molly when the other teams came charging towards her.

As expected Ben seemed to single out Sandra Nichols, letting her try to play with several of the other Chasers. Rebecca did not blame him; Sandra definitely did stand out from the rest of the group and her deciding to get back on the team would be a necessary asset.

The second Chaser that stood out of the group was a tanned girl in the fourth year named Zarah Ellington. She had a temper, though, which was noticed when Molly managed to block one of her shots. But she was quick and her broom, a Nimbus 2009, was quick and easily maneuvered. When Ben finally ordered Zarah and Sandra to charge against Molly together Rebecca actually smiled; it looked perfect.

"Alright!" she called when Zarah nailed her last shot. "It's time for the Beaters to try out! Could you…"

She was interrupted by a terrified scream and looked around, trying to see who was screaming. When she eventually looked down she saw that Benvolio had collapsed on the ground and was thrashing violently. Everyone in the air instantly flew back down just as Professor Lupin came running out onto the pitch, followed by the Auror Rebecca remembered seeing on the train.

"He's got the rashes", Rebecca heard Lupin say.

"I'll bring him back up to the castle; you gather everyone around", the female Auror ordered. "We have to make sure no one else is infected."

"What's going on?" Molly asked.

"It's those rashes", Rebecca answered.

"Is it Dragonpox, Professor?" Sandra asked. The ragged teacher shook his head.

"No. This is something else. We have to place the school under a strict isolation until we know what it is."

"What about the try-outs?" one of the Beaters asked.

"We'll postpone the try-outs for Beaters", Rebecca decided. "At least until we know what is going on."

For once no one protested against her decision; instead everyone looked on as the Auror brought Benvolio up to the castle.

* * *

"I do not know, Remus", Madame Pomfrey said after inspecting the now unconscious boy. "It is not any disease I have encountered before."

"It seems to be contagious, though", Rujuta said. "This is not the boy I chased onboard the Hogwarts Express."

"What about the other students down at the Quidditch-pitch?" McGonagall asked. Lupin shook his head.

"None of them had any rashes, and none of them had seen any rashes on Mr Interrante either before he collapsed."

McGonagall sighed and looked at the exchange-student tucked down in the bed next to them.

"Until we know what he has and how to cure him, and everyone else infected, we will have to isolate the school", she said. "We cannot risk this affecting anyone else."

"What if it already has, Professor?" Hermione Granger asked. "Miss Singh here said that she chased a boy with it on the train; what if he caught it somewhere outside of Hogwarts?"

"Until we know we cannot take any risks", Remus agreed, "but we should keep our eyes open as well and make sure that there have not been any reports of this disease somewhere else."

"Do so", McGonagall eventually agreed. "You three will be in charge of this investigation. Use whatever means you need, as long as you do not have to access things outside the grounds. Report what you find to me."


	6. Chapter 5: Next Generation Marauders

It was raining. Not the kind of rain that girls would sometimes refer to as beautiful and cozy, but a heavy, storm-like rain. The few students who had been outside were rushing to get back inside the castle, using their bags or their cloaks to protect their head. Everyone except him, that was. He was standing on the bridge, allowing the droplets to hit him square on in the face. It was a nice feeling, a feeling of being cleaned and reborn. At least he would like to imagine that.

"Oi, Chewie! Are you going to stand there trying to see the future all day?"

The call was followed by a series of laughs from his fellow Slytherins. Yes, he was a Slytherin, and his family had always been in Slytherin. Except for a few, stray members, among them the man he referred to as his uncle; Sirius Black. That was who he sometimes wished he could turn into. He had never met him in person, but he had read everything there was to know about him. He sometimes wished that he would one day wake up in 12 Grimmauld Place and realize that Sirius had actually taken him in after his parents' deaths fourteen years ago.

So far, that had not happened and he continued on with his life as a Slytherin that did not value what a Slytherin should value, most importantly pure blood.

Before he was able to consider his own situation further, though, he was knocked down by someone running across the bridge.

"Sorry!" the brown-haired girl called and scrambled to get back up on her feet, which was easier said than done on the slippery boards of the bridge.

"Look guys, it's Gryffindor on Ice!" one of the passing Slytherins called, which resulted in another storm of laughter that seemed to match the sound of the rain falling on the roof.

"Shut up!" the girl yelled. "You will pay for this!"

"Considering how you walk I should have plenty of time getting away!" the Slytherin-student called and left, laughing, with his friends. The girl growled and reached for her wand.

"Don't."

She turned around with the most surprised and confused look you would ever see on someone's face.

"But… but…"

"Just don't", he said and brushed off some mud from his trousers. "They will always win."

"They have never tried to beat me", the girl huffed. "Hey, was it you they were making fun off when I knocked you over?"

"I guess you could call it that", he answered.

"Then why didn't you do anything? I mean, I do not know you, but I do not doubt that you could if you…"

"Brooklyn Amarenze!"

The girl paled.

"Uh-oh. Hey, if you need to talk about devising some plan to get back at them, meet me up in the Owlery in three hours… make it four if she catches me."

She then dashed out from the tower-house, out into the rain and towards the Forbidden Forest.

"Oh come on!"

He turned around and saw a familiar face next to him.

"Hello Herondale", he said.

"Taimoor", she greeted and pushed her wet, normally strawberry blonde hair out of her face. "I hope she didn't hurt you by running into you."

"I'm fine."

"Really? You don't look alright."

He huffed.

"It's the usual, and I'm used to the usual."

"Come on", Mariah Herondale said. "Why haven't you brought this up with Slughorn yet?"

"What could he do?" Taimoor asked. "The guys would be forced to say sorry, maybe get a few detentions, and that would be it. They cannot be expelled for doing this, you know, and they would keep on doing it when the teachers aren't around."

"You should still talk to him."

Taimoor shrugged and turned to gaze out into the heavy curtain of rain.

"Why were you chasing that girl, Brooklyn or whatever her name was?" he eventually asked.

"Prefect duties. We've had a couple of dungbomb incidents thanks to her, several of them aimed at people from your house."

"Huh. I take it you've chased her before?"

"Yep. Ever since I got to become a Prefect she's been one of the reoccurring names on our 'list'. I'm surprised you didn't know about her."

"Well, I'm not the 'perfect Prefect', now am I?" he grudgingly answered.

"You're good and you would be even better if you decided to become that. Plus, when you apply to become an Auror this is going to be a great addition to your classes."

She squinted and tried to see where the girl had run off to. Taimoor knew that her task was impossible; Brooklyn already had the advantage of having run off so quickly and despite Mariah's stubbornness he doubted she would be able to find her prey now.

Mariah seemed to realize this as well and groaned.

"Well, I guess I'll have to catch her some other time. I'll see you later, Tay, alright?"

"Yeah", he answered. "Hey, by the way, have you heard anything about the Quidditch Pitch yet?"

"No", Mariah answered. "You haven't been able to hold try-outs either?"

"No, and the season starts soon. Why can't they just let us go there?"

"Well, the whole school seems to be a mess this year", Mariah said with a shrug, before she waved her hand at him and hurried back towards the castle. He remained in the same spot, turning slightly to look out through the rain once more. Whenever the heavy curtain thinned out he could spot the Owlery in the distance. He was quite sure that Brooklyn had already rushed off to hide there. For a moment he considered telling Mariah to check the tower, but then he wondered what his uncle would have done. A grin spread across his face when he realized that Sirius would probably never have missed the slightest opportunity to get back at his enemies, and if Brooklyn could help him do that Taimoor would definitely not say no.

He pulled up his hood and stepped out into the rain, hurrying across the wet grass towards the shadowy tower in the distance.

* * *

"Brook, tell me again why we are hiding out in the Owlery?" Natasha asked and brushed yet another feather off of her shoulder.

"Because it's the perfect hiding place for a secret meeting", Brook answered with a grin.

"Couldn't we just have met in the Room of Requirement?" Nick groaned.

"Nope, because that place is nowadays known to everyone, thanks to the DA", Brook said and was about to sit down on the floor, but quickly got up when she realized that it was full of owl poop.

"Right", she said and brushed off. "So it's not the _perfect_ place, but it's good enough. And hey, here's the guy!"

Nick and Natasha turned around and saw a Slytherin-student of their own age climbing up the stairs, pushing his wet, black hair away from his eyes and adjusting his glasses.

"A Slytherin?" Nick asked with a frown. "I thought you didn't like them."

"This guy's different", Brook said. "I don't even know his name, but hey, I know a Marauder when I see one."

The guy looked up in surprise.

"Marauder?"

"Sure", Brook said. "That's what we are. We are this day's Marauders, but we're also detectives, so we are going to find out why the Quidditch Pitch remains closed to us and why there are so many Aurors on the grounds, while also providing some payback to unfortunate students."

Both Nick and Natasha were sure that the guy would storm out at hearing that, but instead a wide grin spread across his face.

"Count me in", he said. "I'm Taimoor Black."

Brook squealed.

"We've got a Black in our group, guys! I told you he was a Marauder!"

"Well, I'm Nick and this is Natasha", Nick said and pointed at himself and his friend. "And Brook's the one who invited you, so I guess you know her."

"If you call being run down by her knowing, then yes", Taimoor said. "So, what's the plan?"

"Polyjuice Potion and mousetraps", Brook said and pulled out a slightly wet parchment from inside her robes.

"Mousetraps?" Natasha said.

"You've never stepped in them?" Brook asked. "Hurts terribly, and it makes you jump around on one foot for quite a while."

"Polyjuice Potion", Taimoor said. "Isn't that going to take very long to make?"

"Oh, I made a stash of it over the summer", Brook said with a smile. "You never know when you're going to need it."

"We could use that to get inside the Pitch, too", Nick said. "If someone manages to get some hair that belongs to a teacher or something, that is."

"It will be hard, but we can do it", Brook said. "After all, we have a Black in our group now. What could possibly go wrong?"


	7. Chapter 6: Saturday Wail

Saturday at Hogwarts meant free time, and the ability to actually hang out with people from other houses instead of being held back in your own dorm with other members of your year and house with piles of books and papers that needed to be handed in first thing the next day. But Saturdays were good; Saturdays meant that no one would question you if you sneaked out to your secret spot to meet with your girlfriend.

That was what Matticus Stark did every Saturday, and possibly Sundays as well, depending on how much they had to do before the start of the next week. And today he was happier than he had been the previous weekend because he had been named Beater of the Slytherin Quidditch Team. Plus he had only had two detentions with Filch in the past week, which was also a good thing.

He tried to walk casually, despite the urge to run, to the place where he and Caitlin Blackford, his Ravenclaw girlfriend, always met just after lunch on Saturdays. It was a secluded place close to the Whomping Willow, which people tended to avoid since there was always a risk of getting to close to the tree. He and Caitlin had found the place when they first got together, two years ago. They had been heading back from one of their first lessons in Care of Magical Creatures when they had decided to explore the area a bit, since they did not have the next lesson until an hour later. It was nearly impossible to spot them if they sat behind the bushes – you had to stand on a special place on the path and lean slightly to the left to do so – and thanks to the constant creaking of the tree it was hard to hear them as well.

All in all; the location was perfect.

Caitlin was already there when he arrived, sitting on her cloak with a book in her lap, completely absorbed in the text. Before she was able to notice his arrival he yanked the book from her hands and held it out of her reach with a grin on his face.

"Hey!" Caitlin exclaimed. "I was reading that!"

"I thought we agreed to never bring books along to this place", Matticus said with a smile, which caused her to smile as well and reach up to kiss him.

"That was before our fifth year", she said and once again tried to grab her book. "Matticus, we have OWLs coming up!"

"Yes, in spring. Meaning months until we have to study."

Caitlin groaned and resigned.

"Fine."

Matticus studied the book in question. Arithmancy, he guessed, since it was not one that he recognized from his own pile of schoolbooks and that was the only class she had that he did not. He had chosen Divination instead, which was alright, considering it was fairly easy to pass in that class, but Trelawney sometimes drove him crazy.

"So", he said and put the book down on the grass, "what have you been up to this week? And please don't say studying."

"I have been doing other things as well", Caitlin protested. "You know perfectly well that's not all I do in my free time."

"Cat, seriously, due to the OWLs it seems that you have put everything else on hold", Matticus pointed out. "You decided not to continue playing Quidditch this year, you resigned from the Frog Choir, and now you bring your schoolbooks with you here. Are you alright?"

"I'm just… freaking out, that's all", Caitlin answered and against his shoulder. "If I do well on my OWLs I know mum would have been proud of me. She was always so happy when I did well."

Matticus sighed and wrapped his arm around her. Caitlin's mum had died just after the two of them had got together. He had never seen her so down and lost, and it scared him that he himself could feel so at loss when he saw her like that. He literally did not know what to do.

"Your mum would never have wanted you to be this stressed about it, though", he eventually said.

"I guess."

They remained like that for a while, merely enjoying each other's company. That was until they heard people talking on the path behind them. Silently they both turned around and peered through the bushes. There were two girls walking past them, one from Gryffindor and one from Hufflepuff. They looked very agitated and, despite trying, their voices kept getting higher.

"I know those two", Caitlin suddenly whispered. "They're Prefects."

Matticus glanced down at Caitlin's own badge and then spotted the same shape on both of the girls' cloaks.

"What do you think that was about?" he asked as the girls continued towards their unknown destination. Caitlin shrugged.

"I don't know."

"Want to go find out?"

She turned around to stare at him in surprise.

"Are you crazy?" she hissed.

"Come on, Cat, you're always so very curious. I bet you can't wait to find out what they were talking about."

Caitlin still did not seem entirely sure about it, but when Matticus rose and grabbed her book as he walked back out onto the path she really had no other choice but to follow him.

* * *

"Sandy, this is serious!" Mariah exclaimed. "Mousetraps, set around the beds of all of the boys in Slytherin's sixth and seventh year and no one understands how they got there! I mean, it was in the middle of a lesson and there were no Slytherins who weren't present."

"Calm down, I'm sure we'll figure this out", Brianne Beach, more commonly known as Sandy, answered. "Mike and Carolyn are already on the case. Why should it matter to us?"

"Because we're from the two houses that had students who were absent from that period!" Mariah hissed. "I received the lists this morning and there were no Ravenclaws or Slytherins missing from the years that had access to those rooms, but there were Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors!"

"What do you mean with 'the years that had access to those rooms'?" Brianne asked with a frown.

"The Slytherin dorms have been designed so that only people of a certain age-span can enter the rooms", Mariah answered. "I don't know why, but for example if you want to enter the rooms belonging to those in the seventh year you have to be at least fourteen years old. Thirteen if you're to enter those belonging to the sixth year students."

"That's still a lot of students", Brianne said. "Are you sure that there are no others missing?"

"Positive", Mariah said. "And I think I have an idea about who's behind it all."

"Brooklyn Amarenze?" Brianne said. "Come on, don't you think that you may have overestimated her a bit? She cannot just walk into the Slytherin common room."

"Sandy, I know it's her. I've even spoken to Professor McGonagall about it and she's started to refer to Brooklyn as this time's Marauder."

"I bet Professor Lupin liked that when he heard about it", Brianne said with a smile, but Mariah was too annoyed to get the joke.

"We need someone to help us catch her", she said instead. "We need…"

"Hi."

The two girls spun around, blushing slightly as they realized someone had overheard them. Two students stood behind them on the path, one from Ravenclaw and one from Slytherin. The Prefect badge on the Ravenclaw girl's cloak gave Mariah a hint about who she was.

"Are you the new Ravenclaw Prefect?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm Caitlin", the girl answered shyly. "This is my boyfriend, Matticus Stark."

"Yes, I think we know who he is", Brianne said. Matticus glared at her briefly as he realized she was referring to his dead parents who had aided Voldemort during the last war.

"Can we help you?" Mariah quickly asked.

"Well, we sort of overheard your discussion and… is there something we can do to help?" Caitlin asked.

"You want to help us?" Mariah asked, her eyebrows shooting up as her eyes widened in surprise.

"Wasn't that what you were talking about?" Matticus asked. "Finding someone to help you catch this Brooklyn Amarenze girl?"

"Well, yes, I'm just… surprised, that's all", Mariah answered. "Why, do you know anything about her?"

"Nothing", Matticus answered. Mariah glanced at Brianne, who nodded slightly.

"Well, I don't see why not", she then said. "Caitlin, I'll ask Molly Ellis to bring you what we have on Brooklyn Amarenze. Keep this a secret from everyone else and if you ever see her doing something strange, report it to me immediately. Is that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am", Matticus said.

"Don't call me that", Mariah said.

"You talked to us as if you were an officer of the law; it seemed appropriate", Matticus answered. "Is that all?"

"Yes, that's all. You may go."

The two younger students immediately turned around and disappeared back up the hill.

"Do you think this is a good idea?" Brianne asked.

"It's what we can do", Mariah answered. "And for once I feel like we have an advantage. Maybe we'll be able to catch Brooklyn Amarenze before she does anything else that could harm others."

Brianne was about to respond to that when a loud, wailing sound echoed over the premises. The two girls immediately covered their ears.

"What the hell is that?" Brianne tried to shout through the noise.

"I don't know", Mariah yelled back. "Come on!"

Still covering their ears they started to run back up towards the castle as the wailing grew louder and louder with each step they took. As they crossed the bridge Brianne glanced backwards and for a moment thought that they were followed, but when she looked again there was no one there. Despite this she could not shake the feeling of being watched.


	8. Chapter 7: The Calm Before the Storm

McGonagall had called everyone to the Great Hall, where the wail was less prominent than outside. The regular tables had been removed and instead there were rows of benches for them all to sit on, facing the teachers up front. No one missed out on the fact that the teachers looked stressed.

"What's going on?" Sandra asked as she sat down next to Hazel.

"I don't know", the brunette answered. She noticed that Sandra turned her head slightly as she spoke, as if she had trouble hearing.

"It was worse down by the pitch", the other girl explained with a grimace. "My right ear keeps ringing."

"You were down by the pitch?" Hazel asked with a frown. "I thought you said you were going to the library."

"Well, I was, but Ben wanted to practice some moves and I promised to help him out."

"Is that a blush?" Hazel asked as her friend averted her gaze slightly.

"No", Sandra protested. "It's not."

Instead she waved at Rebecca, who quickly sat down next to them as the room began to get very crowded.

"Could someone please explain what is going on?" the younger girl asked.

"It is an alarm", Toby said and sat down on Hazel's right side. Sandra frowned.

"An alarm for what? Break-in?"

"No", Toby simply answered.

"But you're still sure it's an alarm?" Hazel asked.

"Of course I am."

A young, brown-haired Gryffindor-girl sat down next to him on the bench with a groan.

"Alright, you guys are Ravenclaws", she said. "What is going on?"

The four others stared at her in surprise. Even at gatherings like this people tried to sit with their friends, or with people from their own house, and if they had to sit with others they definitely did not try to strike up a conversation with people who were several years ahead. Still, that was what this girl in her _Ray Ban_-glasses did.

"We don't know", Hazel eventually answered.

"But aren't you guys supposed to be the smart ones?" the girl asked.

"If we have not experienced anything like this before it is highly unlikely that we know what it is", Toby said. In that moment two ginger Hufflepuffs sat down on the other side of the girl, adding to the strangeness of the situation. Rebecca recognized them both; they were in her year and they were in several classes together.

"Hey, Nick and Natasha, right?" she said and leaned forward slightly to get a better view.

"That would be us", Nick said with a hint of a grin. "Hi everyone else."

"Hide me!" the Gryffindor-girl suddenly squeaked and threw her arms around Toby's neck, stunning the whole group on the bench, especially the boy in question, as a group of Slytherins walked past them.

"What was _that_?" Sandra asked when the girl released her friend.

"Well, I've run into a few problems with that group and I needed to hide", the girl answered. "Hugs are a good place to hide. I'm Brooklyn, by the way."

Toby simply stared at her outstretched hand, still too shocked by the event to actually say anything.

In the end he did not have to because McGonagall had taken her place in front of the other teachers.

"Students, I would advise you all to remain inside for the rest of the day", she said. "As of right now we do not know what has caused the wail, but the Aurors are working on it together with the staff. There is nothing to be worried about."

That was it; the teachers had no explanation for the wail. The atmosphere in the Great Hall changed in an instant; it became restless, worried, scared. No one had believed that not even the teachers knew what to do.

"It's the Marauders!" someone suddenly yelled. Remus Lupin instantly froze in his tracks and stared out at the sea of students for a few moments before regaining his wits and seemingly realizing that the Marauders the student was referring to was not his old friends. As Sandra glanced at Hazel, however, they realized that they had both seen his reaction.

"The Marauders must be found!" someone else yelled.

"Get them! Find them!"

The teachers tried to calm the students, most of them Slytherins, but the feelings swelled and spread along the lines. People rose from their seats and yelled at one another.

"This is madness", Toby suddenly said.

"They're panicking", Sandra observed. "Whoever the Marauders are they'd better not be in here right now or they'll be in trouble…"

In the corner of her eye she saw Nick, Natasha and Brooklyn glance at one another.

"Oh crap."

That was yet another surprise; Sandra rarely uttered fowl words. Not even while playing Quidditch.

"We need to get people out", she then said and rose. "Tell people to get out."

She pushed past Rebecca, who looked from her disappearing shape to Hazel, to Toby and then back again.

"What was that about?" she asked, then saw Toby rise as well. "Hey, are you just going to obey her, without an explanation?"

Toby responded too silently for anyone to hear it in the rising volume of the student body, but it became obvious to them all that he did not like this environment. At all. He instead headed for the door and others followed his example, hurrying away to coupe up in their own dormitories.

"I think I'll follow that order as well", Brooklyn said and got up, hurrying towards the door. Nick and Natasha followed her example, which caused Hazel and Rebecca to do so as well. By the door they met Sandra again.

"Get the whole group to Lupin's classroom", she ordered, then disappeared in the crowd again.

"What is she up to?" Nick asked.

"Whatever it is, she's got something up her sleeve", Rebecca said. Brooklyn frowned at the expression.

"Seriously? She doesn't look like the type…"

"Let's just follow her orders, okay?" Natasha begged. "I just want to get away from here."

* * *

Remus Lupin was pacing in front of his desk when the group entered through the door, looking even more worn-out than he usually did. Toby quickly noticed that Sandra was still nowhere to be found and he found it odd that she had abandoned them.

"Professor, why are we here?" Natasha eventually managed to ask as the silence dragged on. Lupin did not answer at once; instead he walked around his desk and sat down on the chair, then waved his wand to lock the door behind them before placing his weapon in front of him on the desk, as if it was a threat. It was not like him at all.

"It has come to my notice that there is a group here at Hogwarts calling themselves the Marauders", he said.

"I think it was hard not to notice that downstairs, Sir", Hazel answered.

"Perhaps, but it was harder to figure out who those people were", Lupin answered, his green eyes unwaveringly focusing on Nick, Natasha and Brooklyn. The trio all looked away and the rest of the group quickly understood what he meant by that.

"You three are the Marauders?" Toby asked, and despite his voice being quite silent it pierced through the silence as sharply as if he had been screaming the words.

"Well, yes, but we had nothing to do with this", Brooklyn quickly answered. "I promise, Professor, we didn't. And if you need to punish anyone for something it should be me; I got Nick and Tasha into this."

The door behind them unlocked and Sandra stepped inside, locking it quickly behind her again.

"Did it work?" Lupin asked and rose.

"I think so", Sandra answered.

"What is going on?" Hazel asked, frowning at her friend. Sandra stepped up so that she was standing by the desk, signaling that she really did not want to answer.

"Someone is trying to get the students to turn on each other", she instead said.

"I'd say that worked; just look at what happened downstairs", Rebecca said.

"So someone started that wail to frame us?" Nick asked.

"Not likely, but someone is creating tensions", Lupin answered. "There is always a group of people that is disliked by the others and in this case it was just lucky for you three that no one knew who you were."

"That still doesn't explain why we are here, though", Toby pointed out.

"No, I suppose it doesn't", Lupin said, then glanced at Sandra. She sighed.

"Remember the incidents onboard the train, with the knocker and the Auror running around trying to find the boy with the rashes?"

"Yes, of course", Hazel answered.

"Well, after the incident with Benvolio Interrante down by the Quidditch-pitch I discussed the situation with Professor Lupin here, and he told me why the Aurors are even present at the school."

"The Ministry has received a number of anonymous threats, aimed at the school in particular", Lupin explained. "So far they have not been able to track whoever this is, but after these incidents I think there is no doubt about the seriousness of the situation. We might be facing another war."

"War?" Nick said.

"As in a Voldemort's-heir-rising-against-us-and-trying-to-k ill-us-all-war?" Brooklyn said.

"Yes", Lupin answered solemnly.

"Which is why you are all here", Sandra filled in. "We're re-creating _Dumbledore's Army_; we need people who are prepared to take on the fight."

"But… but isn't that illegal?" Toby asked.

"It will be kept a secret, yes, but it's not illegal", Sandra answered. "McGonagall knows about it as well, as does Professor Granger and Auror Singh. They're all in."

"And you want us to be in it as well?" Rebecca asked.

"Yes."


	9. Chapter 8: Hunters and Prey

Either the wail had started to wane, or she was getting used to it. As Molly Ellis looked out through the window of the library she figured that it was the latter option, since no one was outside. It worried her that the teachers did not know what to do, and that the students were suddenly scared of everything and everyone, but mostly she worried about what her teammate Sandra Nichols had told her while people tried to escape the Great Hall.

Sandra had caught up with her just outside the door.

"Molly, have you heard of the Marauders before?" she had asked.

"Mariah Smith in Gryffindor have been onto them for a while, or at least one that she believes to be in this group", Molly had answered. "A Brooklyn Amarenze. Why?"

"I just find it strange that they show up all of a sudden. What have they done, then?"

"There have been some pranks against Slytherin-students, mainly. A fourth-year student named Kylie Forbes has handed in several complaints, and there was an incident this morning when there were mousetraps set around the bed of every male Slytherin in year six and seven."

Sandra had nodded, seemingly considering these new facts.

"I do not think you'll have to worry about them anymore", she had eventually said. "I just sent a Gryffindor-girl named Brooklyn to Lupin's office; she was terrified of what was happening in there."

"Oh", Molly had responded in surprise. "Alright. Thanks."

"No problem. Glad I could help."

Then Sandra had walked away as if nothing serious was going on, and that was what Molly was wondering about and what she had been wondering about for the past five days. The conversation had seemed quite normal back then, but once they had parted ways she had felt as if something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

"Hi Molly."

She tore her gaze from the window and managed to smile at Brianne Beach as the younger girl sat down opposite her.

"Hi", Molly said and closed her book. "Is everything alright?"

"Except for that we cannot go outside", Brianne winced. "But otherwise it's fine. Mariah found out that Brooklyn's got detention with Lupin four days á week up until Christmas; it seems she broke down and confessed everything."

"Right, good."

"But you're not happy?"

Molly sighed.

"I just think that… it was too easy. We're missing out on something important, some detail."

"I thought you'd say that."

Mariah Herondale smiled as she sat down next to Brianne.

"See, Sandy; I told you Molly would have the same idea about this as I did."

"Hold on, what are you two talking about?" Molly asked. Mariah pulled out a parchment from her bag and placed it face down on the table.

"This is the list of detentions next week. Take a good look."

Molly frowned, then turned the paper and read through the list. Most names were expected; Matticus Stark, for example. He always seemed to get into trouble. Half-way down, though, she froze.

"That's got to be wrong", she said and read the name again. "That's… no… Hazel should not be on the list."

"Check the time", Mariah said and pointed at it. "Hazel has her detention with Professor Granger at exactly the same time as Amarenze's detention with Lupin."

"But Hazel does not get detention", Molly protested. True, she had never spent too much of her spare time with her classmate, but they shared a dorm and knew each other well enough to know that neither should be getting detention.

"And look at this, Sandy", Mariah continued. "Nick Gilbert has his detention at the same time, same day, but with an _unknown teacher_."

Brianne frowned, then grabbed the paper and turned it to be able to check the name.

"That's not possible either. We have practice that day and he would have told me if he could not make it. Or he would have told James, who would have told me."

"At least you have a team to practice with; we haven't even had our try-outs yet", Mariah muttered.

"But you're saying that this is all a trick?" Molly asked. "That they're not having detention but something else?"

"Exactly", Mariah said. "And right now we have the upper hand. They do not know that we suspect something and thus they will be less cautious. We can catch them red-handed."

Molly considered the proposition for a while. Of course she wanted to find out if these things were true, if Sandra had tricked her and why Hazel Lewis' name was on the detention list. But what if they were wrong? What would her dormitory think of her then?

"Alright", she eventually said. "What do we do?"

* * *

Taimoor felt as if he had been holding his breath for an eternity when the three Prefects finally left the library. It had been a coincidence that he had gone there but now he was happy he had. He made sure to stay behind the bookshelves for another five minutes before he hurried back out through the door.

In order to shake off any potential followers – a suggestion from Nick – he took a long detour to the Great Hall, where he, turned left and walked down the stairs to the kitchen and the entrance to the Hufflepuff dormitory. He could not head inside – that would be too obvious. Instead he tickled the pear on the painting, slipped the parchment inside and headed back up the stairs, took another detour and eventually ended up in the corridor outside Lupin's classroom. Not many minutes later Nick came sprinting up the stairs as well.

"What's going on?" he gasped.

"You got to the others?"

"Yeah, they'll be here as soon as they're able to leave. You seem stressed."

They checked the corridor once more before heading into the empty classroom next to Lupin's.

"You two are early", Hermione Granger said, before continuing to scribble things onto the board in front of her.

"Sorry, Professor, but I think we have a problem", Taimoor said. Hermione turned around with a slight frown.

"And what's that?"

"The detention-thing didn't work. I just overheard three Prefects talking about it down in the library. They recognized Nick and Hazel as 'people who do not get detention'."

Hermione groaned and massaged her temples as she thought.

"Well, it was worth a shot", she said. "But now we have to figure out something else."

"Wait; are these the same Prefects that were after Brooklyn?" Nick asked.

"Think so, plus one more. A Ravenclaw-prefect. Think she was Head Girl as well."

"That would be Molly Ellis", Hermione said.

"Oh, she's good", Nick said with a grimace. "She never gives up on things if she feels that there's something weird going on."

"I thought Sandra had taken care of that", Taimoor said.

"It didn't work", Sandra said and stepped in through the door. "Molly just came up and asked me about it."

She then frowned.

"What are you actually talking about?"

"The detention-thing didn't work", Nick answered. Sandra groaned.

"Then what do we do?" she asked and looked at the female Professor. Hermione shook her head slightly, her brown curls bouncing.

"I'm not sure."

"Well, we better think of something", Taimoor said. "They want to punish Brooklyn for that thing she did to the guys in my year."

"What, you guys actually _did_ do that thing with the mousetraps?" Sandra asked.

"Yes, we did", Taimoor bit back. "Brooklyn and I used polyjuice potion to disguise ourselves as some other Slytherins while Nick and Tasha disguised themselves as us, since they did not have a lesson at the time but we did."

"That is a very good plan, actually", Hermione suddenly said.

"What?" Nick and Taimoor gasped.

"What's a good plan?" Rebecca asked as she walked in through the door together with Hazel.

"Polyjuice potion", Hermione answered with a grin. "That's how we'll throw them off our scent."

"Alright, I am seriously confused", Rebecca said and looked at the others. "What's going on?"

"Molly and two other Prefects are onto us", Sandra answered. "Though I'm not sure about when polyjuice potion became a good plan."

Hermione turned back towards the board, scribbling on it frenetically.

"Molly and the two others are after Hazel, Nick and Brooklyn", she said. "Those are the ones they know to be part of this. They do not know that you others are as well."

She stepped aside.

"So we'll help them. We'll take turns pretending to be them heading somewhere while they get here, and once the potion wears off…"

"We others can come here as well", Rebecca filled in.

"But polyjuice does not wear off until after an hour", Sandra protested.

"We'll have to time it perfectly, and those not disguised will have to help out", Hermione explained. "Also, I think I have a friend who might be able to help us even more."

"Help us in what way?" Taimoor asked. Hermione smiled.

"Well, he's got a map of the castle that I think will become very handy."


	10. Chapter 9: Unknown Constellations

For most students at Hogwarts the first weekend of November meant nothing but the start of the Quidditch season. People from all four houses were decked out in either red and gold or green and silver, depending on which team they were going to cheer for during the upcoming game. Toby, Hazel and Sandra would have grabbed some kind of breakfast and headed up to the Astronomy Tower. Since they were related, Professor Sinistra did not mind him bringing people there for study-groups, but only him and his friends were allowed, which made the place even more peaceful than the library.

This year was different. Sandra was back on the Quidditch-team and even though she was not playing today she was heading down to the pitch with the rest of her team-mates in order to study their future opponents. That had been common two years ago as well, but what made this year very different was that Hazel was heading down to the pitch as well.

As she let him into her office, this seemed to surprise Professor Sinistra as well.

"I must say I did not think you would come up here without Hazel", she said while putting on her coat. As a member of the staff she had to be present at the game, despite finding it quite boring.

"We do not speak much anymore", Toby answered while placing himself on the couch and opening one of the books he had brought along.

"And why is that?" Professor Sinistra asked.

"She has found some other friends that she likes better than me", Toby answered.

"Is that a bitter tone I hear in your voice, Toby?"

He shrugged as an answer. Ever since Hazel and Sandra had started attending those secret meetings with Hermione Granger and Professor Lupin they had just drifted apart. He did not like that they were breaking the rules, and the rules clearly stated that there would be no secret clubs on the school that people were not invited to be a part of. It did not matter that the club was approved by Professor McGonagall and that it was hosted by two of the teachers; it was still a secret club that excluded other students. It was not like the Charms Club or the Choir or the Potions Club – all of which he was a part of – where you could just walk into the room and ask to join. This club was a secret and the Prefects where after them because of this.

"Toby", Professor Sinistra said, her tone commanding, "tell me what has happened."

Toby ignored her and instead kept on reading. Despite his close relationship with his second-cousin he disliked discussing these things with people. He might have discussed them with Hazel, but seeing that she was not here and was one of the causes why he felt like this there really was no way out of it, was there?

"Alright, I'll let you be", Professor Sinistra said. "Lupin came by with some chocolate for my birthday and you are free to try some of it if you like."

With that she left the office and Toby found himself letting out a breath of relief that he had not even known he had been holding. For a few more moments he tried to concentrate on the text, which would usually have interested him more than anything, but today his mind was wandering. With a groan he placed the book next to him on the couch and got up, walking over to the window from which he had a perfect view of the grounds. He could even see some of the stands of the pitch, which was partly hidden behind a hill. A thick line of students and staff-members was moving towards it, their coats turned up against the wind and light rain that was falling. If the game had been a couple of weeks back they would have tried to cover their ears as well, but the wail that had been keeping the school isolated since mid-September had suddenly come to an end in mid-October. Some claimed that it was thanks to the Aurors, but Toby was not so sure. He had seen the faces of the Aurors the days after the wail had stopped and they had looked quite surprised and astonished, not to mention they sounded like that as well. Hence he doubted that the Aurors were behind it.

Still not up for a study session – which was very rare in itself – he walked over to Professor Sinistra's desk to find the box of chocolate she had mentioned. He was not surprised that it was Lupin that had given it to her; he always seemed to have a stash of chocolate ready to hand out.

After rummaging through some of her notes and neatly stacking them back where he had found them he pulled the box out of the bottom drawer. As he did a small parchment, which had probably stuck to the bottom of it, fell to the floor. Curious about it he picked it up, but found it empty. Perhaps it was just a piece of parchment and not some secret note. He was really becoming quite paranoid.

Still, as he sat back down on the couch with his beloved book he could not stop glancing at where the parchment lay next to the box on the desk. There was something strange about it, something that he could not quite put his finger on.

"_Di immortales_!" he groaned and got up from the couch once more. What did he really expect that this paper was for? It was probably just a small piece of parchment that had been ripped off a larger piece and had fallen into the drawer before his second-cousin had had the chance to throw it away. Despite that he sat down on the chair behind the desk, grabbed a quill and a horn of ink and then sat still, wondering what he should be writing. Then he noticed that the drops of ink that had already fallen onto the parchment were gone; the small piece was as clean and empty as it had been earlier. With a frown he turned it over, wondering where the ink had gone.

As he placed it back down there suddenly was a word written on it.

_Name_.

Toby blinked, turned the parchment over a couple of times and then stared at the word for a few moments. He was sure that that word, no matter how small the letters were, had been there a few seconds ago. It had appeared out of nowhere. And what name did it ask for? Professor Sinistra's?

He grabbed the quill, dipped it in the ink and moved it over to the parchment. Carefully he then wrote down the four letters of his own first name. _Toby_. The ink vanished just like the drops had done before and for a while nothing else happened. Then the piece of parchment flew out of his hand and back into the suddenly open drawer, which then closed and locked itself once it was inside. Then other parchments flew up, all of them empty, and soared around him as if he was the center of a wheel. He immediately got up and out of the chair, but the parchments followed him while lines were being drawn on them.

Once he had recovered from the shock he realized that they displayed a star chart and notes from Professor Sinistra pointing out the various constellations. As he looked closer, however, Toby also noticed that his second-cousin had written things that pointed at the meaning of various constellations, something that should belong in Divination. There was also the mention of the name Firenze, a name that Toby believed could only reference to the centaur that had once taught Divination at Hogwarts.

It was hard to make out which notes that connected to which, but it seemed like Professor Sinistra had been wondering about a strange constellation in the sky and had sought out Firenze due to that. Firenze, in turn, had pointed out several oddities with the sky that the centaurs believed to be the foreboding of another great war. On one of the parchments was a list of things that the centaur had pointed out as important. Toby plucked it out of the air and sat down on the couch with it in his lap as he tried to make sense of what it said.

_Rashes_.

_Wail_.

_Silence_.

_Age_.

_ Darkness_.

He probably read the list ten times before he got up once more and rushed out of the office, leaving his books behind as he hurried down the stairs. His heart was thumping as he ran through the corridors – another thing he usually did not do – until he reached the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom on the third floor. He knew that Professor Lupin was one of the few to be excused from today's game due to his recent transformation into a werewolf and thus hoped that he would find him here instead. Tired beyond words he banged on the door.

"Professor!" he yelled, his voice breaking. "Professor, I need to talk to you."

When the door was pulled open he nearly fell forward, completely exhausted.

"Mr Sinistra", Professor Lupin said, sounding surprised. "What has happened?"

He ushered him inside and made him sit down on a chair, though it still took Toby nearly a minute to recover from his long run.

"Here", he then said and handed over the crumpled parchment. "It... the wail..."

Lupin took the parchment from him and spread it out over the desk that separated them, studying the list.

"Where did you find this?" he eventually asked. "What does it mean?"

"Sinistra", Toby answered, feeling as if he was about to faint. "Firenze... war..."

Then he fell forward and the world turned black.


	11. Chapter 10: The Perfect Getaway

"How come Professor Sinistra kept this from us?" Hermione exclaimed, waving her hand at the parchment still resting on Lupin's desk.

"Hermione, calm down", Lupin said. "I'm sure Aurora had her reasons."

"But this might be a vital key to solve this mess!" Hermione continued, her voice still raised. "And Firenze; how could he do this?"

"He's a centaur, not human", Sirius groaned. Rujuta glared at her boyfriend; he knew perfectly well that talking in such a way about magical creatures would only fuel Hermione's anger further. Ever since the last war she had been fighting for the rights of various half-breeds and Firenze had been one of her strongest supporters, along with Remus.

"Sirius", Remus said, his voice sharper than usual. Sirius shrugged and got out of the chair by the wall.

"Look, it does not matter why people kept this information back", he said. "The point is that we've got it now."

"We still do not know what it means, though", Rujuta pointed out. "Those are just words, taken out of their original context. We need to discuss their meaning with Professor Sinistra."

"See?" Sirius said with a grin. "That's why I love you."

Rujuta blushed. Living with Sirius meant you had to deal with his constant flirting, which somehow seemed to make the downsides of it all almost nonexistent.

"Professor Sinistra left shortly after the game", Hermione said. "I don't know where she had to go, but she's not in the castle anymore."

"We'll just send an owl", Sirius said, but Remus shook his head.

"No, it would be too risky. Besides, the isolation spell is still in place. Even though we haven't had any more incidents with those rashes we cannot take any risks. Especially not after finding this."

"Has Madam Pomfrey gotten any further in researching the rashes?" Rujuta asked.

"No", Hermione said with a sigh. "I haven't heard anything about it since I left her my notes on the matter."

"You know what?" Sirius asked. "I would like to see some more victims of that rash-thing."

"Sirius!" both Hermione and Rujuta exclaimed, horrified by the mere thought.

"No, he's got a point", Remus said. "If there were more it might be easier to notice a pattern about it. Now we've just got the boy that Rujuta was chasing on the train and that Italian exchange student. So far there's no pattern."

"So what do you suggest?" Hermione asked, spinning around to face him. "That we expose our students to whatever this is, to perhaps cause people to die?"

"Hermione, you know I didn't..." Remus begun, but Hermione was not yet finished with him.

"I do not believe this! How could you be so cold-hearted, Remus? How could you put science in front of living people? How would you feel if someone asked you to be the guinea-pig in an experiment? How..."

"Hermione!" Remus exclaimed.

"I thought that you both were already married", Sirius mused, which caused both participants in the argument to stare at him. Remus' ears had turned slightly red.

"Well, my mistake", Sirius continued with a shrug. "Though you have to admit that you sound like an old married couple when bickering about such things."

Now it was not just Remus' ears that reddened, but both his and Hermione's face changed into the color most associated with the house of Gryffindor. Sirius grinned, then tugged at Rujuta's arm.

"Come on, let us leave these two turtledoves to solving their problem. We need to make the most out of your free time."

As he pulled her out through the door Rujuta could see that Remus had reached for his wand in order to hex his friend. Not that she blamed him; she felt like would have deserved it. Though one part of her also enjoyed the fact that he had created an opportunity for them to escape; ever since she had told him that she would have the afternoon free after the quidditch-game he had been planning something for her. To catch up, as he called it, but Rujuta had a fleeting thought about the surprise involving them spending time in bed.

Therefore she was quite surprised when he pulled her through the crowd of students in the entrance hall and out of the castle.

"Where are we going?" she asked, worriedly looking up at the grey sky. Sirius simply smiled.

"Wait and see."

He led her down to the lake, the surface of it rippled due to the light wind. By the time they reached the shore a light rain had begun to fall. Rujuta felt herself frowning; why had Sirius led her down here? What where they supposed to do by the lake?

"This way", he said, still smiling secretively, and pulled her with him along the shore. They soon entered a small cluster of trees, leading them partly away from the lake, but by the time they reached the end of it they were back by the shore. And the sight caused Rujuta to gasp.

"Sirius, this is beautiful!" she said, staring at the scene. Sirius grinned and placed his arm around her shoulders.

"Did you not think I might just want to spend time with you somewhere?" he asked and kissed her brow.

"Well, I... I had a few doubts about it", Rujuta answered as she blushed. Sirius laughed his regular bark-like laugh.

"I would have doubted it myself if I was in your situation", he said and led her out from the trees. In front of them was a wooden platform with an attached roof, meant to keep the rain away. On that platform stood a table and a couch, viewing the lake, and on the table stood plates of fruit and candy, along with a cold bottle of champagne. All around the platform were small lanterns, seemingly floating in the air without support.

As they stepped up onto the platform Rujuta also noted that there was a magical shield in place to keep the wind out.

"This is perfect", she said and put her arms around Sirius' neck, pulling him down for a kiss. He smiled against her lips.

"Then this is to your liking, my lady?" he murmured huskily, causing her to shiver.

"Stop it", she mumbled.

"No", he answered, pressing their lips together again. "You are my lady. I am but your knight."

"You know, you should have become an actor", Rujuta said as she pulled back with a smile. "Right now you sound like someone out of a Shakespearian play."

"Remind me to ask you about that word later on", Sirius said and kissed her again, before pulling her with him down onto the couch. "Chocolate-strawberry, my lady?"

"Are you going to call me that all day?" Rujuta asked.

"Of course I am", Sirius answered and held up the fruit in question. Rujuta rolled her eyes at him before she allowed him to place the fruit on her tongue.

"I can't believe you did this, Sirius", she then sighed and rested her head against his chest. "You know, sometimes I quite forget why I fell in love with you."

"What is it with you girls who somehow think that I can't be romantic?" Sirius asked with a pout, causing Rujuta to laugh.

"You've just proven that you can", she pointed out. "Though I think that most are just attracted by your history; the Black who ended up in Gryffindor, who spent twelve years in Azkaban despite being innocent, the former Marauder... your history makes people think you're dangerous and adventurous, and I think that might be what most people think when they see you."

"But you don't?"

"I sometimes do, but then you do something completely out of character and I remember that you are so much more than that. You are also caring and chivalrous, loyal, brave and kind. Not to mention you always have a way of making me laugh."

Sirius smiled, seemingly pleased with himself at hearing that.

"You have always been special to me, Rujuta", he said. "Ever since we met. Ever since I accidentally knocked you over while searching for Remus in the Aurors' Department at the Ministry, I've just known that..."

He hesitated, causing Rujuta to straighten. It was not often that Sirius Black hesitated when talking about something.

"What's wrong?" she asked, gazing up into his grey eyes. He sighed and touched her cheek with the back of his hand.

"Do you really love me, Rujuta?" he asked. "Despite my age?"

"Of course I do", Rujuta answered. "I do not care about you being older than me; I love you more than my own life."

Sirius kissed her once again and rested his forehead against hers afterwards. Despite still not knowing why he had hesitated before she could not help but love the feeling of being so close to him, of breathing in his scent. He smelled of sweat, dust, dog and something that was entirely him.

"Marry me", he suddenly said, his voice silent. She frowned and pulled away, not sure if she had heard it correctly.

"What?"

He met her gaze again, then took her hands in his.

"Rujuta Singh, will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"


	12. Chapter 11: Memory

The sun had finally found its way out through the thick clouds and spread a soft light through the windows of the Hospital Wing. As it was right after the day's quidditch-game several beds were occupied by players from both Slytherin and Gryffindor, but one bed at the far end of the room had another patient; a Ravenclaw-boy.

Both Sandra and Hazel had been shocked to hear of what had happened to Toby while they were off watching the game and had rushed up to the Hospital Wing right away. Since then they had been sitting next to his bed, waiting for him to wake up. Three hours had passed since their arrival and still there was nothing. Even Madam Pomfrey seemed worried about it.

"Why is he not waking up?" Hazel asked for the millionth time. Several small, half-made plaits were visible in her hair and her nails were almost non-existent due to her constant biting on them. Sandra had long since given up on telling her to stop and her own hair looked terrible from her constantly running her fingers through it, something she usually did when she was worried or nervous.

"Hey."

They both looked up to see Natasha and Nick standing by the screen next to the bed.

"How is he?" Nick asked.

"Nothing yet", Sandra answered.

"I still don't understand what happened", Natasha admitted.

"I don't think anyone does", Hazel said.

"Wait, you don't know?" Nick asked, looking at the two of them. "You don't know what he did?"

"We know that he fell unconscious outside Lupin's office", Sandra answered.

"But you don't know _why_ he was there, then?" Nick pried. Hazel and Sandra looked at one another, frowning, before shaking their heads as an answer.

"It seems Professor Sinistra and Firenze have been researching what's going on here, with the pox and the wail and such", Nick explained, his voice lowered. "Toby found it while up in the Astronomy Tower and he rushed down to give a note with clues to Lupin, and then he just dropped to the floor."

"What sort of clues?" Sandra asked.

"Just random words, I think", Natasha said and sat down on an empty chair. "But Tay thinks that the teachers are up to something, like they're trying to put together a puzzle. They've even sent for back-up from some people!"

"What kind of back-up?" Hazel asked. "Something like the Order of the Phoenix?"

"Don't know, it's just something Taimoor overheard", Nick answered. "But Toby was the one who started all of this and he's sort of been against this group since the beginning. Why did he even give us the information? He could have just ignored it."

"Toby's... not someone who sees things as black and white", Hazel explained. "He might not be a part of the actual group that has training-sessions and such, but he's still our friend."

"So he says he's neutral but then secretly supports someone?" Natasha asked.

"Brilliant", Nick muttered, then glanced over his shoulder. "I think Mariah's waking up. We'd better get going, Natasha."

"Wait, Mariah Herondale was injured during the game?" Hazel asked with a frown.

"Yeah, a bludger hit her in the chest", Natasha answered. "I'll see you guys later!"

Sandra peeked out behind the screen to see Mariah in a bed not too far away, grimacing at the pain in her chest.

"I still don't understand why they're chasing us", Hazel said. "We're not doing anything illegal, we've got the teacher's on our side... why are the Prefects acting like we're criminals to be shipped off to Azkaban?"  
"Because our meetings are kept a secret", Sandra answered. "You know as well as I do that a club started at Hogwarts should be open to everyone."

"Dumbledore's Army wasn't", Hazel pointed out.

"Yeah, but we're not Dumbledore's Army", Sandra sighed. "We're a group of students trying to solve a mystery without even knowing what the mystery is about, and some are only in it because if they are the teachers won't pinpoint them as the Marauders."

"Don't tell me you're thinking of pulling out", Hazel asked with a frown. "You started this, remember?"

"That does not mean I have to see it through to the end", Sandra pointed out. "Hazel, we're doing our final year at Hogwarts. We have NEWTs coming up this spring that we need to study for and I've got Quidditch as well, as does Rebecca and Nick and Taimoor and Brooklyn. Maybe we're in over our heads in this."

"Sandra, you can't say..."

"We don't even know what we're doing!" Sandra exclaimed, which caused people to stare in their direction and try to look around the screen that protected them.

"Miss Nichols, if you cannot be quiet and allow people to rest I'll have no choice but to ask you to leave", Madam Pomfrey said, her voice stern. Hazel expected Sandra to apologize and say that it would not happen again, but instead her friend rose and grabbed her bag of books.

"It's alright, Madam Pomfrey, I was just about to leave anyway", she said. "I'll see you around, Hazel."

With that she marched through the Hospital Wing and out through the doors at the far end. Hazel stared after her. Inside her there was a turmoil of feelings that she tried to sort out; hurt, anger, confusion, sadness, betrayal. There really were no happy feelings about this.

"Hazel?"

The faint sound of Toby's voice caused her to jump in surprise. Her friend was blinking at the light in the Hospital Wing, unused to it after several hours of unconsciousness.

"Where am I?" he then asked, his voice somewhat stronger.

"In the Hospital Wing", Hazel answered. "How do you feel?"

"I'm alright", Toby answered and sat up, frowning. "Though I do not understand why I am here."

"You... you don't remember why you're here?"

"No. The last thing I remember was that wail echoing over the castle."

Hazel's eyes widened.

"Toby, that was several months ago", she pointed out, her voice barely audible.

"Have I been struck with a memory charm, then?" Toby inquired.

"No, you can't... no one's been around to do that", Hazel said and looked up at Madam Pomfrey, who had just come back outside.

"You were brought in unconscious three and a half hours ago", the matron said. "Since then your only visitors have been your friends and I highly doubt that any of them would be able to cast such a charm."

"Then how could this happen?" Hazel asked, the tone of her voice rising slightly. "How could he have forgotten the past two months?"

* * *

Sandra did not know why but as she walked out through the castle gates she felt tired. Drained, really, as if she had not slept for days. Still her steps were determined and she did not hesitate as she walked back towards the Quidditch Pitch.

"Sandra!" Benjamin Forrester said and jumped up from the rock he had been sitting on, a big grin spreading on his face. "I did not think that you would come back."

"Why not?" Sandra asked.

"Well, with Toby and all of that", Benjamin answered with a sheepish smile and a slight blush visible on his cheeks. "You ought to be with him, you know."

"He was still unconscious when I left", Sandra answered. "There really was no reason for me to stay."

"You sound as if you've been in a fight or something", Benjamin said with a frown.

"I just... I sometimes feel like everything is down to me. Like I have to do all of these things that I really should not have to deal with. I'm never left alone or allowed to make my own decisions."

"You're not thinking about quitting the team, are you?" Benjamin asked. Sandra shook her head.

"No, not at the moment. It was something else."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really", Sandra answered. Benjamin nodded and walked the final steps up to her. Despite being two years younger than her he was nearly a head taller, with dirty-blonde hair that sprouted in every possible direction and dark green eyes that could sometimes turn into adoring puppy-eyes. Sandra knew that he had been following her around the year before, mainly because of her not being a part of the team anymore, and had thought it a nice gesture to help him practice in private when he had asked her about it earlier this autumn. That thing, however, had quickly led to another and instead of sitting on a broom each Sandra had found herself pressed against the wooden wall of the stands with his mouth covering hers. Now the practice-thing had become an excuse for both of them to sneak off together. Sandra really had no idea why they were still keeping their relationship a secret, but maybe the excitement of it would disappear if it became public.

"Here", Benjamin now said and extended his arms towards her, inviting her into his embrace. She wanted to go to him, to hug him and hold in close, but something held her back. She frowned at herself and he stepped closer, which caused her to involuntarily take a step back.

"Sandra, what's wrong?" Benjamin asked, frowning as well, and then she saw it.

His eyes, his dark green eyes, were shifting in color. Streaks of pale brown had found their way across the iris and they were growing.

"You're not Ben", she said and took another step back.

She did not know how but suddenly she was on her back on the wet grass with him on top of her, pinning her down. His eyes turned browner by the second and she wanted to scream in terror, but he covered her mouth with his, kissing her fiercely. She struggled against him, tried to bite him, before she suddenly went limp. Why was she struggling? Why did she not allow him to kiss her?

After all, he was her boyfriend. He was Benjamin.


	13. Chapter 12: The Bear & the Maiden Red

"Kylie, please, talk to me!" Aurora exclaimed. Kylie did not listen, did not even turn around as she stomped across the courtyard.

"Kylie, it was a mistake! I did not mean to kiss him!"

"Yeah, well, it did not look like that", Kylie snapped. Tears were burning behind her eyes but she refused to cry in public. It was enough that people saw her marching away from her friend. Or her former friend. After finding Aurora kissing James Monroe outside the boys' bathroom she definitely did not want to think of the blonde girl as her friend anymore. She had known that Kylie had been head-over-heels in love with James since their first year and kissing him in public was definitely a statement that she did not care, at all.

"What was I supposed to do, then?" Aurora asked and managed to reach the brunette. "Decline when James Monroe asked if he could kiss me? He's James Monroe, Kylie! You don't say no to him!"

"You know perfectly well why you should have", Kylie hissed and pushed past her, heading down the covered bridge. She heard Aurora groan behind her.

"Fine, be a stubborn idiot, then!" she called. "I could not care less."

"No, you definitely couldn't", Kylie muttered and wiped away some stray tears falling from her eyes. This day had definitely turned out for the worse; first they lost the game against Gryffindor and everyone had blamed her since she had not managed to catch the Snitch before Brooklyn Amarenze, of all people, and then this whole circus with James Monroe and Aurora.

"Kylie!"

The friendly voice of Jacob Laurent, the team's Keeper, made her slow down somewhat. Jacob was like a cuddly bear, if ever one could describe a Slytherin like that, with big, brown eyes and a mop of curly, brown hair on his head, who always wanted to ensure that his friends were alright before he tended to his own needs. He was the only one who had not blamed her for missing out on the Snitch before.

"I think that's the first time I've ever seen you and Aurora fight", he said as he caught up with her. "Are you alright?"

"Fine", Kylie muttered. Jacob simply looked at her and something in those brown eyes broke through her stubborn mind and made her tell him everything that had happened.

"Wow", he said once she was done. "I can't believe she did that to you."

He produced a handkerchief and held it out to her as if he was an old-fashioned gentleman. She almost laughed as she accepted it. Almost.

"Do you want me to give them detention or something?" James asked. "I could, you know, since I'm a Prefect now and everything. I could come up with some kind of excuse and then send them to Binns for detention."

That did actually make Kylie laugh, even though it was more of a snort than a laugh. Still it caused him to smile.

"You would do that for me?" Kylie asked.

"Of course", Jacob answered. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I just... never thought you'd be one to put people in trouble."

"Well, there's got to be a reason for me being a Slytherin, right?" Jacob answered and winked at her. "Besides, I hate to see you sad."

And there he was again; the cuddly bear with his friendly eyes. He really was too friendly for words and it set her off balance.

"Well, thank you, then", she said and gave him a friendly nudge on the arm. "And I would like to see them both in detention."

"Consider it done", Jacob said with a broad grin. "And, hey, don't even think about the game today, alright? We've got two more to come and we should be able to beat both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff pretty easy."

"That reminds me; could you give Brooklyn Amarenze detention as well?" Kylie asked.

"What for?"

"She threw a dungbomb at me on the train."

"Well, I would put her in detention if I could, but she's somehow always in detention already", Jacob said. "Guess she did something really bad and was caught by Lupin, since he's the one who mainly guards her during those times."

"But..."

The shouts from the field below interrupted her. Both she and Jacob turned and looked down the hillside towards the Qudditch Pitch.

"What's going on?" Jacob asked as they both set out to investigate.

When they reached the area by the pitch they saw a group of people gathered around something on the ground. They also spotted Rujuta Singh, the Auror, rushing towards them from the area by the lake.

"Don't go any closer!" Rujuta shouted.

"Why?" Kylie called back.

"It's the rashes!" a ginger guy called back. "She's got the rashes!"

The group then moved so that they stood closer to Jacob and Kylie, at which point Kylie was able to see the body on the ground with a red, rash-covered face.

"That's Sandra Nichols, the Ravenclaw Chaser, isn't it?" she asked.

"I think so", Jacob answered. "I mean, I've had her flying towards me too many times to forget her face."

"Yeah, that's Sandra", a ginger girl said. She looked pale and frightened.

"I don't understand", the ginger boy said. "We talked to her about an hour ago and she seemed fine. Now look at her; covered in rashes and in a coma."

"I'm taking her to the Hospital Wing", Rujuta Singh said. "Since you all might have been exposed to this I need you to stay away from anyone else. Stay down here, alright?"

"Is she going to be alright?" a small brunette suddenly asked, causing Kylie to turn around. She had been too busy watching the body to notice Brooklyn in the group.

"You", she hissed.

"Kylie, stay calm", Jacob ushered her.

"Oh, hi", Brooklyn said with a nervous smile. "The Slytherin Seeker."

"A bit more than that", Kylie snapped. "You threw a dungbomb at me onboard the Hogwarts Express!"

"Oh, right, yes, I did that too, I suppose. But I didn't mean to harm anyone."

"Harm anyone?! My clothes smelled horrible for _weeks_!"

"Girls, please, we've got far more important things to deal with than past feuds!" Rujuta called. "Mr Laurent, will you make sure everyone stays here?"

"Sure", Jacob answered, his eyes flickering between Brooklyn and Kylie as if he feared they would get into a serious fight. Rujuta then flicked her wand and caused Sandra's body to float up into the air and ahead of her towards the castle.

"Look, can't we just put all of that behind us?" Brooklyn asked. "I mean, there are a few more serious things happening around here than us bickering about dungbombs and such."

"It's not just the dungbomb", Kylie hissed. "You seem to be the cause of putting me in constant trouble."

"I'm not sure if I should see that as an achievement or not..."

"You're a pain in the ass, do you know that?" Kylie shouted. "I'm sure you're the reason for Aurora hooking up with James Monroe as well."

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Brooklyn asked with a frown.

"She's had a really rough day", Jacob answered.

"Oh", Brooklyn said and suddenly seemed very concerned. "I suppose meeting me did nothing to help that, right?"

"Not exactly, no", Kylie muttered.

"Look, we've got to figure out what happened to Sandra", the ginger boy said.

"How?" Jacob asked. "We only just got here and there's no one else around."

"And Auror Singh told us to stay here", the ginger girl pointed out.

"Well, more specifically she told us not to go near anyone else", the ginger boy corrected.

"She told me not to let anyone leave", Jacob said.

"Yeah, because you're a Prefect", the ginger boy said. "Probably first year Prefect as well, since you're not in my grade or in the final year, which means me and Nat are the oldest in this group."

"Nick, come on, let's stay here and wait for Auror Singh to come back", the ginger girl pleaded. "We don't have to cause any more trouble for her or any of the others. It's already bad enough."

"But don't you want to find out what happened to Sandra?" Nick asked. "Nat, come on, I know you do!"

"Stop it!" the ginger girl said, her voice raised to a squeal. "Shut up, Nick!"

The boy blinked.

"Wow, since when did you tell me to shut up?" he asked.

"I do it all the time, you just never listen", Nat answered. Nick pouted but seemed to have put down his case regarding the investigation. However, Jacob soon woke his interest again. The Slytherin-boy was poking around on the ground with a stick and at the same time dug up a silver-colored ring.

"What's that?" Kylie asked. Nick snatched the object from the ground and brushed off the earth with his sleeve.

"A ring", he said, pointing out what they all could already see. "Wait, there are letters on the side of it. J... L...W."

"Well, that makes no sense", Brooklyn said and sat down in the grass.

"No, but it might be a clue", Nick said and continued to examine the ring. "Come on, who has the initials JLW here? Do we know anyone?"

As he, Jacob and Nat all started to discuss possible owners of the ring Kylie sat down next to Brooklyn and started to tear up the grass with her fingers.

"So... what's with Aurora and this James Monroe?" Brooklyn asked.

"Aurora's my best friend, or was, and I just caught her kissing the boy I'd been in love with for ages", Kylie answered.

"Ouch", Brooklyn said with a grimace. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, thanks."

Brooklyn looked thoughtful for a while before she reached into her pocket and pulled out a brown package.

"You might need this one more than I do", she said. "Be careful, though. You don't want to get your hands dirty or they'll know you did it."

Kylie stared at the package which she knew contained one of Brooklyn's dungbombs, before she suddenly smiled.

"Thank you", she said. "It will be my pleasure to set this one off in Aurora's bed."


	14. Chapter 13: Clues, Thoughts and Oddities

It was a solemn group that gathered in Hermione's classroom the next day. Remus allowed his gaze to rest upon every single one of them as they dropped in. All of them showed traces of shock at the two incidents that had happened the day before; Toby's memory-loss and Sandra being affected by the rashes. Of course they had all been devastated at the previous victims of the rashes, but this was someone in their own group, someone that they were all close to.

However, Remus did note that two new students headed in to the classroom, together with Brooklyn. What surprised him even more was that these two were Slytherins; Kylie Forbes and Jacob Laurent.

"They were there when they found Sandra", Rujuta mumbled as she saw the confused looks of her two colleagues. Remus nodded and watched as the door closed and locked itself. Slowly he then rose from his chair and walked over to the chalkboard.

"I think that we can all agree on that we have to find an explanation for these rashes", he said and picked up a piece of chalk. He always felt more comfortable writing things by hand, especially in this small group of people.

"Madame Pomfrey assigned us that task when Benvolio Interrante was affected by them at the beginning of the term", Hermione explained to the students. "So far we have been unable to come up with any cause or how they can be cured. In the case of Benvolio Interrante they disappeared within a couple of weeks and he was back to normal."

"Do you think that's what's going to happen to Sandra?" Rebecca asked. Remus hesitated, his back still turned towards the students as he was writing things on the board. In the corner of his eyes he saw Hermione and Rujuta exchange glances.

"I have a different theory", Remus eventually said. "I know that this might sound farfetched, but I think that our group has caught the eye of whoever is causing this. That this group has become a target."

"We have no proof", Hermione hurriedly said. "It's just a theory. Remus' theory."

The final sentence was just to point out that she did not agree with him. They rarely did agree on such matters; Hermione wanted to base everything on facts and what was already written down in books while Remus... well, he thought outside the box.

"The thing is that this all started yesterday while everyone was at the game, except for Toby Sinistra and myself, among several others", he explained. "Toby seems to have been visiting his relative's office during that time..."

"Yes, he usually does", Hazel said. "I usually come with him. Professor Sinistra allows us to stay there since we are not too fond of Quidditch."

"I see", Remus said with a nod. "Well, then we have an explanation as to why he was there."

He backed away from the board, allowing the others to see what he had written.

"While he was there, however, he found a list containing these five words", he said and pointed at the list at the right side of the board. "He brought this to me and right before falling unconscious in my office he uttered three more words."

This time he pointed at the list on the left side of the board. _Sinistra_. _Firenze_. _War_. _Rashes_. _Wail_. _Silence_. _Age_. _Darkness_. Both students and adults in the room frowned at the white letters.

"I believe that these five", Remus said and pointed at the list on the right, "these five are a guide to what's going to happen. We've already seen the breakout of the rashes..."

He underlined the word as he spoke.

"There has also been a wail, which was followed by silence", he continued and underlined those two words as well. "Which leaves the last two on that list as things yet to come."

"What about the three words Toby said?" Nick asked.

"I believe Toby found other notes about this up in Sinistra's office as well, but was unable to bring them with him", Remus said.

"So he found something that has to do with Sinistra, Firenze and a possible war", Taimoor said with a slight frown.

"That's how I would see it, but it's impossible to tell without asking Professor Sinistra about it", Remus answered.

"Well, that's easy, right?" Brooklyn said. "We just head up to her office, knock on the door and ask her about it. She must be worried about Toby's wellbeing as well."

"We have already tried that", Rujuta said. "Her office is locked and we cannot detect anyone inside. Also no one has seen her since the game yesterday."

"Professor Sinistra's disappeared?" Natasha asked, her eyes wide.

"There may be a logical explanation to it all", Remus pointed out. "But so far things are not looking good."

As he paused he saw Nick exchange glances with the new Slytherin, Jacob.

"Do you two know something?" Remus asked. Nick jumped in surprise.

"Well, yesterday when we found Sandra... we found something else as well", he answered and reached into his pocket. He then pulled out an object wrapped in a handkerchief, which he in turn handed to Rujuta, the closest of the adults. As the auror unwrapped the package a silver ring appeared. It looked simple enough, without gems or intricate details, except for three letters engraved on the outer side.

"JLW", Rujuta said.

"We found it after you left with Sandra", Jacob explained. "Nick thought that it might belong to whoever was responsible for this."

"Are there any students with those initials?" Natasha asked.

"I can't name anyone right now", Remus admitted, frowning at the object. "Hermione?"

"No, sorry", the younger witch answered and shook her head, sending a couple of stray curls flying around her head as they had escaped from her pony-tail. Remus studied the ring for a while longer before he turned back towards the chalkboard and wrote the letters in the centre of it, encircling them once he was done.

"We need to find out if there are any students with these initials", he said. "That would be something you could all do. We also need people to look up more information on possible previous cases like this. There might be some information in the restricted section of the library."

"I could do that", Hazel said.

"I'll help", Natasha filled in.

"We also need people to keep an eye out for Professor Sinistra, or anything that has to do with her", Rujuta pointed out.

"Wait, we do not know if this is something we have to do", Hermione protested. "There might be a logical explanation to all of this."

"Hermione, there's a time for logic and a time for action", Remus said. "I believe you of all people know that."

Hermione glared at him, but slumped back in her chair and did not oppose the plan any more.

"Well, who would be able to keep an eye out for Aurora Sinistra?" Remus then asked. Taimoor and Brooklyn looked at one another and nodded in unison.

"We can do that", Taimoor said. "People never notice when I sneak around the castle, and Brooklyn's pretty badass at escaping as well."

There was a slight giggle at Taimoor's choice of words.

"That leaves one last task", Remus said as he scribbled down the names of the volunteering students. "Both Sinistra and Firenze would most likely have deciphered these things from observing the stars. Are any of you good at that?"

"I'm not terrible at it", Rebecca quietly admitted.

"Come on, you were probably the only one in our grade to get an O on our OWLs in Astronomy!" Nick exclaimed, causing Rebecca to blush.

"I can help as well", Jacob Laurent volunteered. "And Kylie, I think."

Kylie looked confused for a moment, before she nodded.

"What, that leaves me without a task!" Nick said and pouted.

"You could help investigate Sinistra's disappearance", Brooklyn suggested. Nick immediately grinned.

"Of course! I am, after all, the master investigator!"

At that several of the other students groaned and rolled their eyes at the Hufflepuff-student, but all in all they seemed satisfied with their assigned tasks and started to leave the classroom. As he walked out together with Rujuta, Remus stopped the Auror when they were about to part ways.

"Hey, congratulations", he said with a soft smile. "Sirius told me."

"Thank you, Remus", Rujuta said with a happy smile of her own and flashed the simple ring on her left hand. "I could not believe it when he asked me."

"I could not believe it when he told me", Remus admitted. "But nevertheless, here you both are. I'm happy for you."

Rujuta smiled broadly before she said goodnight and hurried off to her assigned quarters, where Sirius was certainly waiting for her. Remus walked off in the opposite direction, aiming for his office. At this time the halls were basically deserted, except for the occasional ghost floating through a wall in front of him. He still remembered how shocked he had been at the sight when he had been a first-year student at the school, but now he barely even noticed it.

Upon reaching the door to his office he pulled out his wand in order to remove the various charms he always placed on it when he left. While doing that he felt the hairs on his arms stand on edge and looked around. There were no ghosts around, not visible ones anyway.

"Hello?" he said and turned to be able to face whoever it was. "Is someone there?"

The corridor remained deserted and silent. Too silent for his own liking. He shivered slightly and turned towards the door again, removing the final charm.

In that moment he felt as if someone had tossed him into the freezing waters of the lake outside. His lungs refused to function and he clutched at his chest and throat as he tried to get some air. The notes he had brought with him from Hermione's classroom tumbled to the floor. Eventually his legs gave away and he fell down onto the cold stone as well.

The next moment, it all disappeared and he rose, gathered his things from the floor, shivered one last time and then headed inside his office.

If a student or ghost or even another teacher had passed by while all this occurred they would not, however, had seen what had happened. They would have seen the Professor in Defence Against the Dark Arts unlock the door to his office and head inside. Only if they had come closer, if they had stopped to talk to him before he headed inside, they might have noticed the oddity with his eyes.

The eyes that were previously green but by now had turned brown.


	15. Chapter 14: Princes and Princesses

Caitlin stared at the announcement on the wall outside the Great Hall, along with several other students who had noticed it on the way to breakfast. It was a large poster with enchanted snowflakes falling down and at the top where three letters written in a shimmering ink that most likely was also enchanted; _Hogwarts Christmas Ball_. Caitlin remembered that there had been a ball like this when she was in her second year, but then she had not been allowed to go as only those in fourth year and above were invited, unless someone in the lower grades was invited by an older peer.

"A ball fit for a true princess", someone said in her ear, causing her to jump in surprise.

"Matt!" she exclaimed. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Why not?" her boyfriend asked with a smirk. "You look super-cute when you blush, and this is an easy way to make you do that."

She rolled her eyes at him and tried to hide her face so that he would not see that she was, in fact, blushing.

"So, what do you say?" Matticus continued as they headed inside the Great Hall. "Would you like to be my date for the ball?"

"Well", Caitlin said, pretending to hesitate. Matticus frowned.

"Of course I will go with you, stupid", she eventually said with a smile of her own and smacked him playfully on the arm. The gesture caused him to smile broadly.

"Perfect!" he said. "Now, should we have breakfast together as usual or am I not allowed to see you before the ball?"

"Why would you not be allowed to see me before the ball?" Caitlin asked with a frown.

"I don't know", Matticus asked with a mischievous grin, causing her to hit him on the arm once more as they walked over to where they usually sat at breakfast.

At another table in the Great Hall, Natasha Violet looked up from _The Daily Prophet_ as Nick sat down in front of her.

"Did you see the sign?" she asked.

"Of course", Nick answered. "Actually, I knew about it already. James alerted us yesterday at practice; all members of the team that are allowed to go must go."

"Why?" Natasha asked with a frown.

"Some sort of tradition. I mean, when it was the Yule Ball at the Tri-Wizard tournament the champions had to bring dates. Guess now they need some other 'honorable guests' that will be parading in."

"You'll be parading in?" Natasha gasped.

"I don't know, maybe", Nick answered, then lowered his voice. "Anyway, have you and Hazel found anything in the Library about... you-know-what?"

Natasha shook her head, slightly annoyed at his attempt to change subject.

"Nothing, but we haven't checked everything yet. Who are you going to the ball with?"

"Wow, look at these croissants!" Nick exclaimed. "They're huge!"

"Nick, what's going on?" Natasha asked, frowning at her friend's behavior. "Who are you going to the ball with?"

Nick took a deep breath and looked back up at her.

"Brianne Beach", he eventually answered. Natasha felt her heart drop slightly. She had thought that he would ask her first. They were best friends, after all.

"Oh, okay", she said and tried her best to seem cool about it.

"Look, it's because of that no one on the team has a boyfriend or girlfriend, so we decided to pair up so that no one would be embarrassed about coming without a date", Nick explained. "I'm going with Brianne, Dianne is bringing Danny along and in order to get Tim to the event he and Teresa are coming together."

"What about James, then?" Natasha asked, referring to the captain of the Hufflepuff Quidditch Team.

"He said he already had someone else in mind, and he would rather take the blow of being embarrassed then having one of us in that situation", Nick answered. "He's being noble and all that."

"Okay then", Natasha said and turned her attention towards the _Prophet_ again. Nick fidgeted with his croissant, turning it to crumbles on his plate.

"Well, I'd better be off", he said. "Investigation-time."

"Yeah, see you", Natasha said without looking up at him. She felt so embarrassed! How could she have thought he would bring her?

"Hi there."

The new voice caused her to look up, straight into the blue eyes of the previously mentioned captain.

"Is this seat free?" he asked and nodded at the one to her right.

"Yeah, sure", Natasha said, staring at the dark-haired boy as he sat down. James was one of the most popular guys in Hufflepuff and she could not fathom why he would suddenly sit next to her when his friends were probably waiting for him to join them.

"So, Natasha, how are you?" he asked as he grabbed an apple. She blinked.

"You know my name?"

"Of course I do", he huffed. "You're just one year below me, plus you're Nick's friend. Not that hard to miss your name."

He winked.

"Oh, well, that's cool. I'm fine, by the way. How are you?"

"Nervous to the point of a shaking leaf", he said and showed her his hand, which was indeed shaking. If it was because of nerves or if he was faking it she could not tell.

"Nervous?" she instead asked. "About what?"

"Well, you know the Christmas Ball?" he asked. "All Quidditch-teams have to attend it, with dates, and I told my team-members that I already had a date to allow them to pair up, when in fact I did not have a date."

"Right, and?"

"And I had sort of hoped you would become my date", James continued. Natasha stared at him.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I know that we do not know each other that well... okay, we've not spoken before, but I've been wanting to talk to you for so long now that I just had to ask. It's silly, I know, but... Natasha Violet, would you like to be my date for the ball?"

"Come on, guys, keep it up!" Brooklyn chimed from the top of the stairs.

"It's an investigation, Brooklyn, not a competition", Taimoor pointed out, before turning back towards Nick. "So what happened?"

"Well, I think Nat had sort of expected me to ask her", Nick answered while waving his wand at the wall in order for more fingerprints to appear. Rujuta had taught them the spell two weeks before and through constant practice both Taimoor and Nick had become quite good at it. The spell simply caused fingerprints to appear wherever you pointed the wand, along with the date when it was left there.

"Don't you think you can help her get a date, then?" Taimoor suggested. "There must be some other guy in your year that could help."

"Yeah, maybe. I just feel like a douche."

"Guys, what's taking you so long?" Brooklyn asked and came back down the stairs.

"Have you found anything?" Taimoor asked in turn.

"No, not really, but I'm pretty sure I can pick the lock of Sinistra's office", Brooklyn answered.

"She's probably got a charm placed out against that", Taimoor pointed out.

"Maybe, maybe not, I'm going to try it anyway. Oh, and what's with Nick?"

She nodded at the sullen boy still making fingerprints appear on the wall and rail behind Taimoor.

"He's just worried he might have screwed things up with Natasha", Taimoor eventually answered.

"I'm not worried, I _know_ I have done that!" Nick groaned. "I should have asked her to the ball first. God, I'm so stupid! James could have asked Brianne instead."

"What, this is about the Christmas Ball?" Brooklyn asked. Taimoor nodded.

"Well, that's great, but could you take that discussion in front of people who are actually _allowed_ to go?" Brooklyn asked and turned, walking back up the stairs. Taimoor and Nick looked at one another for a brief moment before hurrying after her, finding her busy picking Sinistra's lock.

"Sorry, Brooklyn", Nick said.

"Yeah, but you know, if someone older asks you to go, you can", Taimoor filled in.

"As if that's going to happen", Brooklyn muttered, her cheery mood gone. "You two are the only male friends I have, and remember; I'm the troublemaker. It's not likely that someone will ask me if they do not want to get in trouble."

"So I'll ask you", Taimoor said.

"What?" Brooklyn exclaimed. In that moment her hairpin clicked in the lock and the door to Sinistra's office swung open. They were in.

"Herondale, to your right!"

Mariah turned and instinctively raised her bat to smack the bludger to the other side of the field. Kyle Webster, the Chaser who had warned her, grinned and stopped his broom next to hers.

"Nice shot", he said.

"Think you can do better?" she asked. Kyle raised an eyebrow at her, before accepting her bat.

"Hey Zach!" he called to the other Beater. "Aim her this way!"

"Alright then", Zach called back and sent the second bludger their way. Mariah moved out of harm's way and watched as Kyle hit the bludger and sent it flying, though his shot was hardly as long as hers.

"Nicely done", she said as Kyle handed her bat back to her.

"Well, I've played some baseball before", Kyle said.

"This is hardly baseball", Mariah said, remembering the game her father had watched every night after he got home from work.

"Well, there's a bat and a ball", Kyle said with a shrug. "That's enough for me."

"I think you should stick with chasing", Mariah said.

"If you say so", Kyle said with a smile. His slightly tanned complexion made his teeth even whiter than they really were.

"Alright, everyone, get back down on the ground!" the captain, Susan Urquart, called. "Practice is over!"

Mariah and Kyle glided down on the ground to join their teammates.

"Hey, have you got a date for the ball yet?" Kyle asked as they stepped off from their brooms. Mariah shrugged. It had been three days since the posters announcing the ball came up all around Hogwarts and so far no guy had asked her. Even Brianne had a date!

"No, not yet", she answered. "It's still a couple of weeks 'til Christmas, though, so I should be fine."

"Well, I just thought that we could go", Kyle suggested.

"As friends", he quickly added when he saw Mariah's surprised look. "I mean... if that's what you want."

"Yeah, sure", Mariah said. "We'll go as friends."

"Is Toby getting out of the Hospital Wing today?" Rebecca asked Hazel as they hurried up the broad staircase. Hazel smiled.

"Yep. Finally!"

Rebecca smiled back. The older girl had not been herself since both of her closest friends had been put in the Hospital Wing on the same day. There was still no progress on Sandra, but at least Toby had been considered fit to return to the normal life at Hogwarts. No one could explain his memory loss, though after two and a half weeks he had read up on all the course material he had forgotten about and would have no trouble getting back to class.

"I'm sure Toby knows what to do about Sandra as well", Hazel said as they were almost there. "He's always been good at finding stuff. You know, I think I'll ask him to help me and Nat search for information about the rashes in the library, and..."

She stopped on the threshold of the Hospital Wing, causing Rebecca to frown and follow her gaze. Toby was sitting cross-legged on his bed with a thick book in front of him, and at the foot of the bed sat another girl. From behind she and Hazel looked very similar, with long brown hair and about the same posture, but since Hazel was standing next to her Rebecca knew who it was that sat with Toby; Molly Ellis.

"Hazel, what..."

She turned to see Hazel sprinting back down the stairs.

"Hazel?" Rebecca called and started running down as well. "Hazel, what's going on? Wait up!"

She turned right at the bottom of the staircase and suddenly found herself flat on her back on the ground with someone on top of her.

"Oh, sorry Beccy", said an all too familiar voice.

"Ben!" Rebecca said, blushing as she allowed him to help her get up. "Oh God, I'm so sorry. I really should not have been running."

"It's alright, I saw your friend run past me earlier and I believe you were following her", Benvolio Interrante answered.

"Yeah, I don't know what happened", Rebecca sighed. "Anyway, practice tomorrow?"

"Of course, captain", the Italian exchange-student said with a smile. "Though, Beccy, there is something I must ask you first."

"Yes?" Rebecca said, anxious to catch up with Hazel.

"Would you like to be my date for the Christmas Ball?"

Back up in the Hospital Wing, Molly put her things back in her bag.

"I'm glad they're letting you out today", she said.

"Yes, I am too", Toby said. "Thanks for alerting me of what was going on in the Charms Club."

"You're welcome", Molly answered, then looked over at Sandra Nichols. The other girl in their year was enclosed in a bubble on her bed which would hopefully keep the rashes from spreading.

"Anything new about her?" she asked.

"No, nothing at all", Toby sighed. "Though no one answers my questions about it, but from people's faces it does not look good. Several of the teachers have been trying to help out, Lupin more than most, but there's no real change."

"It's strange", Molly said. "Benvolio Interrante was back up and running in two weeks time, and the rashes had faded by then. It's been more than two weeks now and there's still no change; she's still covered in them."

"Will you still be able to play against Hufflepuff without her?" Toby asked.

"Yeah, Rebecca's called in a substitute, but I'm not sure we're going to win", Molly sighed. "The team is just so unfocused at the moment, with both this and the Christmas Ball and us having to attend it."

"Yes, I heard about that", Toby said with a nod. "Have you found someone to go with?"

"Not yet, but there's plenty of time still", Molly said and put her bag over her shoulder. "Well, I'll see you in class tomorrow, Toby."

"Wait", Toby said. "If you do not find someone, would you like to go with me?"

"With you?" Molly said in surprise. "But... I thought you would bring Hazel?"

"I'm asking you, right?" Toby said. "Hazel's my friend and I would hate to destroy that friendship and... oh, that sounded wrong."

"Look, Toby, I would love to go with you to the Ball, but I don't think anything could destroy your friendship with Hazel", Molly said with a smile. "I'll see you later, alright?"

"Kylie?" Jacob hissed from his position by the common room entrance. "Are you done soon?"

"Relax, no one's coming back from dinner for ages", Kylie hissed back. Carefully she placed the package in the designated bed and backed away from it. When reaching the door she pulled out her wand and pointed it at the object, placing a charm over it that would set it off when Aurora sat down on her mattress.

"Done", she hissed and closed the door. Jacob let out a relieved breath.

"I don't know what I would have done if someone caught us", he said and sunk down in the black couch by the fire.

"You would have come up with something", Kylie said and sat down next to him. "You always do."

"You know, ever since you and Brooklyn became friends you've become really mischievous", Jacob pointed out. "I should really be reporting this."

"But you're not", Kylie said. "Why is that, by the way?"

"Because... nah, it's nothing."

"Jake, come on, what is it?"

His brown, gentle eyes looked back at her for a moment before he suddenly leaned closer and kissed her on the lips.

"Because that's why", he whispered.

"Sirius, this is so beautiful!" Rujuta said and looked at the necklace her fiancé had placed around her neck.

"Anything for my bride-to-be", Sirius said with a smile and pulled her in for a kiss.

"Sirius, I've got to get up early tomorrow", Rujuta pointed out as his hands started to wander.

"Yes, tomorrow", Sirius said with a new smile. "It's still today. Evening, maybe, but still today. And we've got all the time in the world."

"I've got to review the security protocols for the Christmas Ball again", Rujuta said and tried to escape from his arms.

"Yes, I've been meaning to talk to you about that" , Sirius said and suddenly looked serious. "Are you Aurors allowed to bring dates to the ball?"

"Yes, if we're not on patrol duty, which I will not be", Rujuta said and smiled at him. "And I would love it if you would come with me."

"Then I'd better get my old dress-robe dusted and cleaned", Sirius said with a grin, then lifted her up in his arms and dropped her on the bed.

"Sirius, you know what I said", Rujuta sharply remarked as he crawled up next to her.

"Yes, and you know what I said."

He kissed her again, cupping her face between her hands as he did.

"Have you told anyone about us getting married?" Rujuta asked as they parted.

"Only Remus", Sirius answered. "You?"

"No, no one", Rujuta said. Sirius smiled.

"Then what do you say we announce it at the ball?"

"Really?" Rujuta asked. "In front of everyone?"

"Yeah."

"That would be wonderful", Rujuta said and allowed him one more kiss, something that she should not have done because the moment their lips met Sirius rolled them over so that he was pinning her down.

"Just one night", he whispered against her lips. "Please."

She looked up at him, her future husband, and hesitated only a mere moment before rising up to kiss him again. One night without work would not harm her.

At this time of the night only those with permission were allowed to walk the halls, thus his footsteps echoed through the dark corridors. His heart was beating hard in his chest as he hurried up the stairs and knocked on the closed doors.

A nurse with her wand lit up opened.

"Are you here again?" she asked.

"Please, I just need to talk to her", he said.

"You know she probably can't hear you", the nurse said. "But alright, though this is the last time I'm letting you in at this hour!"

He slipped inside the great room that served as the Hospital Wing. Through the large windows he could see the snow falling down from the sky, covering the school grounds in a thick, white layer.

"I'll give you five minutes", the nurse said and walked back to her office once they reached the bed where the Ravenclaw-girl affected by the rashes was laying, concealed in a bubble.

"Hi again", he said and sat down on a nearby chair. "I... yeah, I've probably done enough apologizing. I should not have run away when I saw you covered in rashes. It's just... I have no memory of what happened that day. I don't know how I got to the pitch or how you got there or why we were laying on the grass or... anything. And you might not be able to hear me but I still want to apologize for running when I should have stayed and helped."

He took a deep breath and pushed back a few strands of his blonde hair that always fell down into his face.

"Just... please, wake up, Sandra. Please. Not just for me but for everyone else as well. For the team. For your friends. For the school."

He smiled and blinked away a few tears.

"Come back before the ball, alright?" he said. "'Cause if you do, I promise to take you there. If you want, of course. But yes, this is me asking you to come with me to the ball, and I'm hoping that when you wake up you'll say yes."

The nurse cleared her throat behind him and with a final look at the unconscious woman he walked back out of the Hospital Wing to continue his rounds.


End file.
